The History and Significance of Juneteenth

By Aimee Knight

On June 19, 1865, nearly two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, word of liberation reached Galveston, Texas. Celebrated since as Juneteenth, the day commemorates the moment the last enslaved African Americans in the US were effectively freed.

Emancipation, however, didn’t mean freedom.

“In 1865 it was an illusion that African Americans were truly free,” Don Smith, chairman of the Missouri City Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, said.

A guest on AARP Texas’ “Texas Bullhorn” Facebook Live series, Smith, who chairs the largest Juneteenth celebration in the country, emphasized there is still work to be done.

Following the proclamation, Smith said there was a resurgence of local policing entities concerned with maintaining white supremacy, including the formation of the KKK. “As we fast forward to today, there’s still some resemblance of those kinds of efforts,” he said.

In the midst of a national reckoning on racial justice, following the killings of George Floyd and other black Americans, this moment holds particular significance.

“We have to bring it forward,” Smith said, “to make sure everything that Emancipation Proclamation is all about should be enforced and a part of our society.”

Smith, a native Houstonian, highlighted Juneteenth’s importance for Texas. Despite years of bondage, there were some slaves who took the initiative and became vital parts of the community, he said, going on to becoming state representatives, senators and inventors.

Although it took two years for word to reach the state, “it garnered something in Texas that we can be proud of,” Smith said.

AARP Texas Director Tina Tran, the host of the conversation, acknowledged the work of the late Texas politician Al Edwards, whose legacy includes passing Juneteenth as a state holiday in 1980. She commended his foresight in passing the bill four decades ago, and how its significance today “is echoing throughout the country.”

Juneteenth celebrations echo loudly in Missouri. As a former city council member, Smith noticed the lack of events specific to the significant demographics of African Americans in Missouri City and ended up coordinating an annual five-day Juneteenth celebration.

Given the ongoing pandemic, this year’s celebration looks different from years past. Today, the foundation is distributing personal protective equipment packages ahead of tomorrow’s celebration at Missouri City’s Freedom Tree park.

Described by Smith as “one of Missouri City’s crown jewels,” the park is the site of a 500-plus-year-old tree on the Palmer plantation where Missouri slaves learned of their freedom.