Juneteenth — Bunk History

Juneteenth celebrations.

Before Juneteenth

A firsthand account of freedom’s earliest celebrations.

by Susannah J. Ural, Ann Marsh Daly via The Atlantic on June 17, 2024

Joshua Houston leads a Juneteenth Parade in Huntsville, Texas, circa 1900.

Juneteenth, Jim Crow

How the fight of one Black Texas family to make freedom real offers lessons for Texas lawmakers trying to erase history from the classroom.

by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Zachary Montz via The Conversation on June 16, 2023

Collage of Juneteenth-related images.

The Story We’ve Been Told About Juneteenth Is Wrong

The real history of Juneteenth is much messier—and more inspiring.

by Peniel E. Joseph via Texas Monthly on May 18, 2023

Photograph of Opal Lee.

"Grandmother of Juneteenth" Celebrates Federal Holiday -- But There Is More Work To Do

Before Juneteenth became an official federal holiday, 94-year-old Opal Lee was on a mission.

by Ashley Vaughan via CNN on June 6, 2022

A group of formerly enslaved people at a county almshouse, c. 1900.

Juneteenth Is About Freedom

On Juneteenth, we should remember both the struggle against chattel slavery and the struggle for radical freedom during Reconstruction.

by Dale Kretz via Jacobin on June 19, 2021

Ashton Villa in Galveston

Celebrating Juneteenth in Galveston

I had sung the Black National Anthem countless times, but hearing those words reverberate around me in this place, on this day, moved me in a new way.

by Clint Smith via The Paris Review on June 18, 2021

A painting entitled Our Town, with Black children playing on a suburban street

The Truth About Black Freedom

This year’s Juneteenth commemorations must take a deeper look at the history of Black self-liberation to understand what emancipation really means.

by Daina Ramey Berry via The Atlantic on June 18, 2021

Growing Up with Juneteenth

How a Texan holiday became a national tradition.

by Annette Gordon-Reed via The New Yorker on June 19, 2020

The Living History of Juneteenth, Our Next National Holiday

A celebration of emancipation in Texas is taking hold in the minds of Americans everywhere.

by Brandon R. Byrd via GQ on June 19, 2020

Juneteenth And National New Beginnings

The holiday is a reminder of the Civil War's larger meaning, the unfulfilled promise of Reconstruction, and the reinforcement of democratic values.

by Tera W. Hunter via Essence on June 19, 2020

Two people in a horse-drawn carriage

Early Photographs of Juneteenth Celebrations

Historical photographs of early Juneteenth celebrations throughout its home state of Texas and across the country.

via The Public Domain Review on June 19, 2020

Five attendees singing at the 48th Annual Juneteenth Day Festival. The person in the middle has their fist raised.

Juneteenth in the Alternative Press

Reports in the underground press demonstrate how Juneteenth has been celebrated as both a social and political gathering in the twentieth century.

via JSTOR Daily on June 18, 2020

The Necessity of Juneteenth

The most famous Emancipation holiday is more necessary now than it has ever been.

by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on June 19, 2017

The Hidden History Of Juneteenth

The internecine conflict and the institution of slavery could not and did not end neatly at Appomattox or on Galveston Island.

by Gregory P. Downs via Talking Points Memo on June 18, 2015

Juneteenth and Barbecue

The menu of Emancipation Day.

by Daniel Vaughn via Texas Monthly on June 16, 2015

Illustration of Annette Gordon-Reed.

Majority Rule on the Brink

The legacies of our racial past, and the prospects ahead for an embattled republic.

by Annette Gordon-Reed, Chris Lehmann via The Forum on July 27, 2022

6 African American's at an Emancipation Day celebration on June 19, 1900

The History of How Emancipated People Were Kept Unfree Needs To Be Remembered Too

Emancipation Days symbolized America’s attempt to free the enslaved across the nation. But those days were unable to prevent new forms of economic slavery.

by Kris Manjapra via The Conversation on June 15, 2022

A supporter of US President Donald Trump holds a Confederate flag outside the Senate Chamber during a protest after breaching the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021. - The demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification.

Jan. 6 Was a "Turning Point" in American History

Pulitzer-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed reflects on the battle for the past and the fragile state of American democracy.

by Annette Gordon-Reed, Chauncey DeVega via Salon on July 12, 2021

Tucker Carlson wearing a t-shirt with a photograph of Abraham Lincoln on it.

The Right May Be Giving Up the “Lost Cause,” but What’s Next Could Be Worse

The GOP’s new embrace of Lincoln, emancipation, and Juneteenth is no sign of progress.

by Rebecca Onion, Matthew Karp via Slate on June 25, 2021

Cartoon depiction of a confederate statue, its hat falling off as it is lifted off a pedestal covered in graffiti about love and justice

After the Lost Cause

Why are politics so consumed with the past?

by Benjamin Wallace-Wells via The New Yorker on June 24, 2021

Laundresses with Union soldiers, circa 1863.

On Juneteenth, Three Stirring Stories of How Enslaved People Gained Their Freedom

Millions of Americans gained freedom from slavery in a slow-moving wave of emancipation during the Civil War and in the months afterward.

by Gillian Brockell via Washington Post on June 19, 2021

Galveston Central Wharf in 1861

Granger’s Juneteenth Orders and the Limiting of Freedom

To what extent did the Union general's famous orders actually liberate the enslaved in Texas?

by Edward S. Alexander via Emerging Civil War on June 23, 2020

6 Black Americans celebrating Juneteenth in 1900.

Reunion, Juneteenth and the Meaning of the Civil War

What would it mean to define the Civil War as a necessary and crucial final step in the long, even more tragic history of slavery in America?

by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on June 16, 2020

Why This Mexican Village Celebrates Juneteenth

Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions.

by Wes Ferguson via Texas Monthly on June 20, 2019

Balancing the Ledger on Juneteenth

The reparations debate highlights what Juneteenth is about: freedom and demanding accountability for past and present wrongs.

by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on June 19, 2019

Everyone Needs to See The Roots' Schoolhouse Rock-Style Slavery Lesson From 'Black-ish'

"I'm Just a Slave" is a necessary song about Juneteenth.

by Matt Miller via Esquire on October 4, 2017

Opal Lee.

A Racist Mob Destroyed Her Home. She Was Given the Land 84 Years Later.

A racist mob forced Opal Lee and her family from their Fort Worth home. Now she has been given the land and a new house is being built for her.

by Timothy Bella via Washington Post on December 29, 2023

Five generations of a family pose at the plantation where they were enslaved, soon after Union forces arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina, 1863.

More Than 100 U.S. Political Elites Have Family Links to Slavery

Among America's political elite, 5 living presidents, 2 Supreme Court justices, 11 governors, and 100 legislators have ancestors who enslaved Black people.

by Tom Lasseter, Lawrence Delevingne, Makini Brice, Donna Bryson, Nicholas P. Brown, Tom Bergin via Reuters on June 27, 2023

Demonstrators marching, holding an "End Racism" sign.

The Freedom of Juneteenth Was Fleeting. This is What Came Next.

Black generosity has always been vital to the freedom struggle.

by Tyrone McKinley Freeman via Made By History on June 19, 2022

Photo Portrait of the King Family, 1966.

Reflections on Juneteenth: Black Civil Rights and the Influence of Fatherhood

From MLK to Obama, advancers for civil rights were driven by their fatherhood and dreams of better life for their own children.

by Wayne Washington via The Palm Beach Post on June 15, 2022

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