The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland

Juneteenth is in someways the most American of holidays. Independence Day in 1776 wasn’t independence for the 450,000 enslaved people in the South. Neither was the Emancipation Proclamation freedom for the nearly 4,000,000 enslaved people in 1862. Neither was the end of the war in April of 1865 because Texas landowners wanted to get one more harvest out of their “property” before they were freed. Freedom finally arrived by way of a Union Major General Gordon Granger’s landing at Galveston and posting the General Order No 3 on the doors of what is now Reedy Chapel AME Church on June 19th, 1865. Free black Texans gathered the following year on June 19th to celebrate “Jubilee” which in time was more commonly called the portmanteau “Juneteenth” for “June” and “Nineteenth”. Celebrations waned during the Jim Crowe era as white southerners continued to enforced segregation laws and commit violence against revelers but grew again in the 1960’s. The holiday expanded in national awareness in the 2010’s thanks to shows like Atlanta and Black-ish exposing white audiences to the largely black cultural celebration. The first bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday was introduced in 1996. For 27 years, activist Opal Lee (known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth”) fought for recognition of the day and was standing next to President Joe Biden when he signed the Federal Order making June 19th a National Holiday on June 17, 2021. But as we all know, equality is the only freedom and we are FAR from equality in our hyper-divided nation. We have so far to go - but cannot forget that we’ve come so far either. Our office is closed today in recognition of the holiday and I spend our drive to Girl Scout camp this morning to talk about the importance of Juneteenth with four seven year olds and how they need to take the baton to ensure their generation is the one to create the environment of freedom our documents promise. I’m also donating to the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland to support their critical work in assuring justice for all people. What are you doing to recognize Juneteenth? Who will you share this with to ensure they know why today is as important as the 4th of July?