Juneteenth—A Jubilee of Freedom

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.  Word spread through the slave grapevine pretty quickly in much of the Confederacy and, as Lincoln had hoped, many slaves abandoned their plantations and sought the safety of Union forces where ever they could.  Not only did this cripple the Rebel economy, but the refugees formed a pool of laborers, teamsters, and—eventually—troops in support of the war effort.  

But things were different in Texas at the far western edge of the Confederacy.  Word was slow getting there.  After the fall of Vicksburg in 1863 Confederate territory west of the Mississippi was pretty well cut off from the eastern states.  Although word might have leaked through in some places, around Galveston, the main port for cotton export from East Texas, slave owners evidently were pretty successful in keeping their property from learning that they were free.  

Junteenth is now the largest and most widespread of all of the local Jubilee celebrations of Emancipation.

Far from the main theater of the war, the last battles were fought in Texas along the Rio Grande on May 13 and Major General Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi District became the last major Rebel commander to formally surrender on June 2.  

On June 18 Major General Gordon Granger landed on Galveston Island to take possession of Texas for the Union.  The next day, June 19^, the General was said to have stepped onto the balcony of the Ashton Villa and addressed a large crowd of Blacks.  He read them his General Order #3:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

On June 19, 1867 Major General Gordon Granger read the order announcing  Emancipation in Galveston, Texas.

The announcement set off joyous celebrations and the word spread across Texas.  The next year, former slaves marked the occasions with more celebrations, which soon became a yearly celebration.  The events were similar to those that occurred across the South on local anniversaries of the Jubilee Days of Emancipation.  

The Texas observances quickly became major annual events in Black communities.  By 1870 the day became known as Juneteenth and various traditions started to be associated with it.  Outdoor gatherings of extended families, churches, or communities grew to be all day festivals.  The day typically began with a reading of Gordon’s and the text of the Emancipation Proclamation followed by recitations of family stories, singing songs like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, dancing, the recitation of poetry, and prayer.  The central event of the day was usually a community-wide barbeque and pot luck.  

The first Junteenth celebration one year after the news arrived in Texas.  Note the many celebrants in Union Army forage caps and fragments of uniforms.  In addition to those who had served in the ranks during the war, many other collected the garments while serving as teamsters or laborers for the Army.  Others acquired the gear as surplus after the war.

Because slave codes often forbade those in bondage from wearing finery of any kind, by the late 19th Century people turned out in their finest clothes.  There were games and contests, particularly baseball, races of all sorts, and—particularly in West Texas—rodeos.  

In many towns local blacks pooled their funds to buy land for the annual gatherings.  These Juneteenth Grounds have become city parks in places like Houston and Austin.   

Late 19th Century ladies in full finery drive a carriage decorated for a Juneteenth parade.

Needless to say, large, exuberant gatherings of Black people frightened and alarmed many whites.  There were attempts to discouraged participation, but the celebrations continued.  The Depression took a toll on observances as families were dispersed, and many rural Blacks sought work in cities where employers did not take kindly to taking days off of work.  Younger folks also began to look on the gatherings a simply old fashioned.  

The Civil Rights movement reignited interest in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s.  After Martin Luther King’s assassination the Reverend Ralph Abernathy promoted celebrations of Juneteenth during the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington.  Observances began to spread beyond Texas.  

In 1997, the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF), Ben Haith, created the Juneteenth flag. Raising of the flag ceremonies are now held in Galveston as well other cities across the country. It is raised after the U.S. flag and the national anthem and before the anthem Lift Every Voice and Sing.  Here Buffalo Soldier reenactors hoist the colors.

By 2000 a movement arose to make Juneteenth a holiday of some sort in all states and recognition by the Federal Government.  It is an official state Holiday in Texas and 36 states have granted some sort of recognition.  The celebration has even gathered momentum in Africa and other places around the world. 

Juneteenth—The Joyous Celebration of Emancipation

Junteenth is now the largest and most widespread of all of the local Jubilee celebrations of Emancipation.

Note:  For some reason there has been a surge in interest over Junteenth this year, at least in my social media world.  It came up on a wide ranging Facebook group I belong to and elicited many comments.  Just the other day a reader of my post on the South Carolina child execution specifically asked for a post on the subject.  Glad to oblige. 

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.  Word spread through the slave grapevine pretty quickly in much of the Confederacy and, as Lincoln had hoped, many slaves abandoned their plantations and sought the safety of Union forces where ever they could.  Not only did this cripple the Rebel economy, but the refugees formed a pool of laborers, teamsters, and—eventually—troops in support of the war effort. 

But things were different in Texas on the western edge of the Confederacy.  Word was slow getting there.  After the fall of Vicksburg in 1863 Confederate territory west of the Mississippi was pretty well cut off from the eastern states.  Although word might have leaked through in some places, around Galveston, the main port for the exportation of cotton from East Texas, slave owners evidently were pretty successful in keeping their property from learning that they were free. 

Far from the main theater of the war, the last battles were fought in Texas along the Rio Grande on May 13 and Major General Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi District became the last major Rebel commander to formally surrender on June 2.  

On June 18, 1867 Major General Gordon Granger read the order announcing  Emancipation in Galviston, Texas.

On June 18 Major General Gordon Granger landed on Galveston Island to take possession of Texas for the Union.  The next day, June 19^, the General was said to have stepped onto the balcony of the Ashton Villa Hotel and addressed a large crowd of Blacks.  He read them his General Order #3:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

The announcement set off joyous celebrations and the word spread across Texas.  The next year, former slaves marked the occasion with more celebrations, which soon became a yearly event.  These were similar to those that occurred across the South on local anniversaries of the Jubilee Days of Emancipation.  

The first Junteenth celebration one year after the news arrived in Texas.  Note the many celebrants in Union Army kepis and fragments of uniforms.  In addition to those who had served in the ranks during the war, many other collected the garments while serving as teamsters or laborers for the Army.  Others acquired the gear surplus after the war.

The Texas observances quickly became major annual events in Black communities.  By 1870 the day became known as Juneteenth and various traditions started to be associated with it.  Outdoor gatherings of extended families, churches, or communities grew to be all day festivals.  The day typically began with Gordon’s order being read or the text of the Emancipation Proclamation followed by recitations of family stories, singing songs like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, dancing, the recitation of poetry, and prayer.  The central event of the day was usually a community-wide barbeque and pot luck. 

Because slave codes often forbade those in bondage from wearing finery of any kind, by the late 19th Century people turned out in their finest clothes.  There were sports of various sorts, particularly baseball, races of all sorts, and—particularly in West Texas—rodeos. 

In many towns local blacks pooled their funds to buy land for the annual gatherings.  These Juneteenth Grounds have since become city parks in places like Houston and Austin.  

Late 19th Century ladies in full finery drive a carriage decorated for a Juneteenth parade.

Needless to say, large, exuberant gatherings of Black people frightened and alarmed many whites.  There were attempts to discouraged participation, but the celebrations continued.  The Depression took a toll on observances as families were dispersed, and many rural Blacks sought work in cities where employers did not take kindly to taking days off of work.  Younger folks also began to look on the gatherings a simply old fashioned. 

The Civil Rights movement reignited interest in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s.  After Martin Luther King’s assassination the Reverend Ralph Abernathy promoted celebrations of Juneteenth during the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington.  Observances began to spread beyond Texas.  

All over the country extended families gather to celebrate Juneteen.  Sometimes they have Texas origins, sometime they have just adopted the celebration.  These folks are getting ready to chow down in Columbus, Ohio.

By 2000 a movement arose to make Juneteenth a holiday of some sort in all states and recognition by the Federal Government.  It is an official state Holiday in Texas and 36 states have granted some sort of recognition.  The celebration has even gathered momentum in Africa and other places around the world. 

Decoration Day or Memorial Day, It’s all About the Fallen

On Memorial Day 1909 members of the Grand Army of the Republic and the GAR Ladies Auxillery gathered on Woodstock Square to dedicate a monument to the Civil War dead

Today is, of course, Memorial Day in the United States.  The Uniform Holiday Act, passed in 1968, set 1971 as the year the Federal government would begin observing the holiday on the last Monday of May giving Americans a three day holiday weekend to start the summer season, to be balanced by a three day Labor Day weekend in September.  

Veteran’s groups were nearly unanimous in opposition to the move fearing that it would dilute the observance as families planed fun activities instead of solemnly commemorating the war dead.  Several states refused at first to change their observances in conformity with the Federal law creating two Memorial Day holidays.   That proved unworkable and eventually all fell in line. 

Of course the veterans groups were right.  Attendance at their parades and cemetery services dropped off in favor of barbeque parties or a day at the beach.  Every year attempts are made to restore the traditional date, May 30. 

The origins of that celebration go back to the end of the Civil War.   Almost as soon as the firing stopped communities were gathering to honor their dead, which in the sentimental 19th Century naturally meant trekking out to local grave yard to festoon the graves with flowers.  Some credit the first organized commemoration to Confederate widows. 

Others claim that former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina originated it when they reburied Union soldier who died in a Confederate prisoner of war camp there and dedicated the cemetery they created as a Union graveyard.  A local paper said that up to 10,000 people, mostly former slaves, were present for a dedication of the grave yard on May 1, 1865 marking the occasion with singing and prayers. 

Some kind of local observances sprang up in towns and cities both north and south.  Waterloo, New York lays claim to the first Decoration Day, as it became known with an observance on May 5, 1865.  It was surely not the first, and just one of many.  But the friendship of the local leader of the celebration, General John Murray with General John A. Logan, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R) planted the idea of creating a national observance.  On May 5, 1868 Logan issued G.A.R. General Order No. 11 instructing local posts to participate: 

        i.            The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

2. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith…

To this day, Logan’s order is often read at Memorial Day observances conducted by the  American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other veterans organizations.

Decoration Day was soon observed across the North, and at Union cemeteries in the South.  For many years it was confined to the Yankee dead and was thus boycotted by Southern states, most of which designated their own separate memorial days for the Confederate Dead.  It was not until after the Spanish American War in 1898 in which Southerners served in arms under the Stars and Stripes once again, that the notion began to spread of honoring all of the war dead—although this was fought tooth and nail by the GAR.  The South began to share the May 30th date, but tended to call their observances Memorial Days to differentiate them from the GAR’s Decoration Days. 

After World War I it became common to include the dead of that war—and later all wars—in the commemorations and the use of the term Memorial Day became more common even in the North.  But it was not Until 1967 the Congress officially changed the name. 

In 1915 Gorgian Moina Michael, inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae conceived of the idea of making and selling paper flowers for the support of maimed soldiers.  When the U.S. entered the war in 1917 she began selling her poppies on Decoration Day to honor the dead of all wars.  She later donated proceeds to French and Belgian war orphans.  The poppy tradition spread to other Allied countries.  After the relieve organization she had been donating to disbanded after the War, Michel approached the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who adopted Memorial Day poppy sales in 1922.  Two years later they inaugurated their annual Buddy Poppy sales.  Soon no respectable American would be seen on the streets on Memorial Day without a Poppy. 

These days the tradition of decorating soldier’s graves is kept alive by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and veteran’s organizations who place small flags on the graves of veterans, not only at National Cemeteries, but in local graveyards as well.  Many cities and towns still hold parades, General Logan’s Order is read, prayers are uttered, politicians orate, high school bands play patriotic music, and sometime straggling lines of elderly veterans fire vollies of rifle fire in salute of the flag. 

That’s the way it will be in my town.  Then we will come home and burn the hell out of some brats.  How about you?