Table of Diversity Weekly: Juneteenth
- Demetria
- Oct 13, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 and, for many, it became an opportunity to learn about history and its relevance to today. For me, it has been interesting to see people and organizations make Juneteenth relevant to them and their work.
For me, growing up in Russellville Kentucky, we celebrated the 8th of August, instead of Juneteenth, because that's when the enslaved of the area were freed. Because of that, I'm still learning about the history of Juneteenth and what it can teach us about today.
Many pieces of literature state that June 19th is when the enslaved people in Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation. However, what stands out to me most is that, the enslaved probably knew about the Emancipation Proclamation before June 19th, 1985 yet there was no one there to enforce the law. Enslavers knew about the Emancipation Proclamation but ignored it. It must have been a helpless feeling knowing that there were laws to free and protect Black people, yet there was no one there to enforce it.
To me, this is a reminder of the importance of accountability. As we create and modify systems to be more equitable, we must consider what accountability to these systems looks like.
This week's issue of A Healthy Dose of DEI is all about the history of Juneteenth.
A Healthy Dose of DEI subscribers get access to activities for improving your supply chain and for learning more about your area's history on emancipation. Also, get a recommendation for a book to 'read' this Juneteenth, and learn about the 'Grandmother of Juneteenth'!
Read. Listen. Watch.
One of the 182,566 people freed on the first Juneteenth was Joshua Houston, the enslaved servant of the famous general. This is his story. -Fortune
"The news was startling.
On June 19, 1865, two months after the U.S. Civil War ended, Union Gen. Gordon Granger walked onto the balcony at Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the people of the state that 'all slaves are free.'
As local plantation owners lamented the loss of their most valuable property, Black Texans celebrated Granger's Juneteenth announcement with singing, dancing and feasting. The 182,566 enslaved African Americans in Texas had finally won their freedom.
One of them was Joshua Houston.
He had long served as the enslaved servant of Gen. Sam Houston, the most well-known military and political leader in Texas.
Joshua Houston lived about 120 miles north of Galveston when he learned of Granger's proclamation.
It was read aloud at the local Methodist Church in Huntsville, Texas, by Union Gen. Edgar M. Gregory, the assistant commissioner for the Freedman's Bureau in Texas.
If Juneteenth meant anything, it meant at least that Joshua Houston and his family were free.
But there was more too."
Earliest Juneteenth celebration photographs from 19th-century -USA Today
"President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years before all enslaved people in Confederate territory were told they were free.
Juneteenth, a combination of 'June' and 'nineteenth,' is a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It is considered the longest-running African American holiday.
One of the earliest Juneteenth celebrations took place at Wheeler's Grove, now known as Eastwoods Park located on Harris Park Avenue in Central Austin, and was photographed in 1900 by Grace Murray Stephenson, a young, white woman who lived a few blocks away, according to Austin Parks and Recreation. Stephenson later sold her story and photographs to the San Francisco Chronicle."
Six Essential Reads to Understand Juneteenth -The Atlantic
"On June 19, 1864, two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, word reached Texas notifying enslaved people of their freedom. Juneteenth is a holiday honoring this delayed freedom. But it's not solely a day of celebration: Juneteenth also inspires reflection on all the work left to do to ensure the fullness of Black Americans' liberty.
Despite a host of regional and statewide celebration over the past century and a half, Juneteenth became recognized as a federal holiday only in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed a bill to that effect- likely as a response to George Floyd's murder and the ensuing wave of organizing in 2020.
This year, I invite you to read six beautiful pieces of writing that offer a window into the state of Black America. In each of these stories, I am reminded of the fortitude of my enslaved ancestors, and of Black Americans' resistance to oppression at every point in this country's history."
Don't whitewash Juneteenth: Black people shouldn't have to lose identity to promote holiday -USA Today
"Juneteenth is my favorite holiday. It's the oldest known commemoration of the end of slavery in America and often brings people together who have not seen each other in years.
Blacks celebrate Juneteenth because it symbolizes the end of African Americans being treated as property while being physically and mentally abused by whites for free labor. The first slave ships docked in Jamestown, Virginia, in August of 1619. The last known slave ship arrived in Alabama in 1860. Slavery on U.S. soil spanned more than 240 years.
While Juneteenth is a celebration, it is also a day of paying homage to the ancestors who lost their lives while shackled, chained and stacked on top of one another in slave ships that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Those who did not survive the crossing were discarded into the sea.
As Juneteenth approaches on Monday, a recent controversy in Greenville, South Carolina, shows we're still learning how to fully honor an event that was only made a federal holiday two years ago. Event organizers apologized in May after featuring a white couple on an advertising banner promoting 'Juneteenth, An Upstate Celebration of Freedom, Unity, & Love.'"
What to know about Juneteenth, the newest federal holiday -CNN
"Despite Juneteenth's storied history, the holiday was largely overlooked by non-Black Americans until recent years.
The momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement propelled Juneteenth into the national spotlight, building on a decades-long push by activists and leaders to get recognition for the landmark occasion. In 2021, Juneteenth became the latest federal holiday in the US- the first to be approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
With Juneteenth now a national holiday, many public and private sector employees enjoy an extra day off from work while brands and corporations capitalize on the event with celebratory marketing campaigns. But there's much more to Juneteenth than a long weekend and branded products."
Breaking down the history behind Juneteenth -NBC News
"Scholar of the Enslaved and Black Women's History, Dr. Daina Ramey Berry, joins News NOW to explain the history behind Juneteenth and why it only became a federal holiday in 2021."
On Food, Mattress Sales, and Juneteenth- Code Switch
"It's the second year that Juneteenth has been a federal holiday- which means it's getting the full summer holiday treatment: sales on appliances, branded merchandise, and for some, a day off of work. But on this episode, we're talking about the origin of the holiday- and we're talking about the origin of the holiday- and the traditions that keep it's history alive for Black folks around the country."
The History and Meaning of Juneteenth- The Daily
"After 155 years, Juneteenth, a celebration of the emancipation of enslaved Americans, is being acknowledged as a holiday by corporations and state governments across the country. Today, we consider why, throughout its history, Juneteenth has gained prominence at moments of pain in the struggle for black liberation in America. We also ask: What does freedom mean now?"
Stories of Juneteenth: A Conversation with Ms. Opal Lee
"In 2016, at the age of 89, former teacher and lifelong activist Opal lee walked 1,400 miles from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., in an effort to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. Two years later, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution recognizing the holiday, which originated in Galveston, Texas, and honors the June 19 anniversary of the announcement by Union Army general Gordon Granger proclaiming freedom from slavery in Texas. Though the day is now celebrated annually throughout the United States, Ms. Opal does not consider her work complete: 'We have simply got to make people aware that none of us are free until we're all free, and we aren't free yet,' she told the New York Times last June.
Please join us for a webinar discussion with Ms. Opal that centers the history of Juneteenth in her life and focuses on her personal journey to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. Ms. Opal will be joined by Harvard University professors Evelyn Hammonds and Annette Gordon-Reed; Gordon-Reed is also the author on the new book, On Juneteenth."
Weekly Activities
Activity 1: One of the ways to recognize Juneteenth is by supporting and amplifying Black owned businesses. When was the last time you audited your supplier network? What percentage of your suppliers are Black-owned? What percentage of your supplier budget goes towards Black-owned businesses?
What's an area of opportunity within your organization's supply chain? What's one improvement you can make to positively impact the supply chain over the next year?
Activity 2: Juneteenth is often commemorated with food, celebration, and remembrance. What systems or processes does your organization have in place to prevent cultural mishaps? For example, every year we hear about an organization's attempt to celebrate using stereotypical methods. How does your organization prevent this from happening? And, if it does happen (let's be honest, mistakes happen!) how does your organization acknowledge it and make amends?
Book Recommendation
Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole A. Taylor
"The very first cookbook to celebrate Juneteenth, from food writer and cookbook author Nicole A. Taylor- who draws on her decade of experiences observing the holiday.
One June 19,1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, informing the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free. A year later, in 1866, Black Texans congregated with music, dance, and BBQs- Juneteenth celebrations.
All-day cook-outs with artful salads, bounteous dessert spreads, and raised glasses of 'red drink' are essential to Juneteenth gatherings. In Watermelon and Red Birds, Nicole puts jubilation on the main stage. As a master storyteller and cook, she bridges the traditional African-American table and 21st-century flavors in stories and recipes. Nicole synthesizes all the places we've been, all the people we have come from, all the people we have become, and all the culinary ideas we have embraced.
Watermelon and Red Birds contains over 75 recipes, including drinks like Afro Egg Cream and Marigold Gin Sour, dishes like Beef Ribs with Fermented Harissa Sauce, Peach Jam and Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, Southern-ish Potato Salad and Cantaloupe and Feta Salad, and desserts like Roasted Nectarine Sundae, and Radish and Ginger Pound Cake. Taylor also provides a resource to guide readers to BIPOC-owned hot sauces, jams, spice, and waffle mixes companies and lists fun gadgets to make your Juneteenth special. These recipes and essays will inspire parties to salute one of the most important American holidays, and moments to savor joy all year round."
Note! We may receive a commission for each purchase using this link.
People You Should Know
Opal Lee
"When Opal Lee was growing up in Texas, she would spend Juneteenth picnicking with her family, first in Marshall, where she was born, then in Sycamore Park in Fort Worth, near the home she moved into at age 10.
She and her family lived in a predominantly white neighborhood in Fort Worth. When Mrs. Lee was 12, a mob of 500 white supremacists set fire to her home and vandalized it. The structure was destroyed, and no arrests were made.
Experiencing that hate crime pushed Mrs. Lee into a life of teaching, activism and, eventually, campaigning. In 2016, at the age of 89, she decided to walk from her home in Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. She traveled two and a half miles each day to symbolize the two and a half years that Black Texans waited between when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, on Jan. 1, 1863, abolishing slavery, and the day that message arrived in Galveston, where Black people were still enslaved, on June 19, 1865.
As Mrs. Lee approached 93 last year, Fort Worth celebrated Juneteenth with multiple days of festivities, including a parade, a walk/run 5K, a breakfast of prayer, art exhibits, a gospel festival and the Miss Juneteenth Pageant."
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