Juneteenth (1865 – 2023): Untold Stories

June 20, 2023

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Listen to this week’s episode of Capitalism, Race, & Democracy:

“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” – From “No Name in the Street,” an essay by James Baldwin

In January of 1863, the enslaved Africans in the 10 confederate states were freed by Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union lacked the military capacity to enforce the Order in Texas. It required two years to execute; thus marking the end of chattel slavery in those states in rebellion against the Union. Celebrations ensued across Texas and subsequently other states. However, the proclamation issued on Galveston Island did not free enslaved Africans in the border states (i.e. Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) or other states of the Union. It was not until the passage of the 13th Amendment in December of 1865 that chattel slavery was rendered unconstitutional and illegal in every part of the United States.

All three of these historical events must be understood as a political continuum 1) the Emancipation 2) the General Order# 3 at Galveston 3) and the 13th Amendment, with each contributing to the dismantling/ending of legalized chattel slavery in the U.S.

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This year marks the second year of a newly created Juneteenth Federal Holiday, to commemorate an important moment in the overall battle to end chattel slavery in the South. It was on this day in 1865 that Texas, the last Western boundary of the Confederacy, was informed by Gen. Gordon Granger and thousands of armed Black troops that General Order number three henceforth declared that the remaining enslaved Africans in Texas (250,000) were hereby freed from the brutal and inhumane institution of slavery. General order number three promised to enslaved Africans, “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves,” and clarified the relationship between slaveholders and enslaved as one “between employer and hired labor.”

President Biden signed a bill last year (2022) declaring Juneteenth as an official federal holiday. However, many African American scholars and activists have warned that the celebration of Juneteenth is not the same as freedom or liberation.

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Scholar/activist Dr. Gerald Horne, author of The Counter Revolution of 1836: Texas slavery & Jim Crow and the roots of American Fascism, published in 2022, is here to shed light on the untold history of Juneteenth.

Dr. Gerald Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war.

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International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 workers are closing all ports in Northern California on Juneteenth. The local is also making actor and activist Danny Glover an honorary member. Glover participated in the 1968 San Francisco State University strike that was successful in winning the first Ethnic Studies program in the United States. At that time the ILWU Local 10 supported the strike by providing jobs for Danny and other strikers. Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10 retired secretary-treasurer, talked about Juneteenth and the class struggle aspect of the fight against slavery, in an interview with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer.

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The late Marian E. Barnes was a storyteller, author, historian, child advocate, and community leader in Austin, Texas. Her story is based on historical records – a story nobody would publish because it depicts inhumanity and violent practices plantation owners used to violate and abuse the rights of Africans captives, throughout what Barnes terms 300 years of holocaust. Marian Barnes’ talks about her story, “Wade in the Water”. She is the author of “Talk that Talk.“ Thanks to Frieda Werden, Series Producer of WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service.

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Freedmen and women purchased land, or “emancipation grounds,” for Juneteenth gatherings throughout Texas. Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas was purchased in 1872 to commemorate the end of captivity and to create cooperative economics. Richard Allen, Richard Brock, Rev. Jack Yates, and Elias Dibble paid $800 for 10 acres of parkland. The men, led by Yates, were members of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. Emancipation Park is the oldest park in Houston, and the oldest park in Texas. During the Jim Crow era, it was the only African American public park in the entire City of Houston. Esteemed Elder and community leader, Mr. Eugene Floyd shares his early memories of Juneteenth in HTX as a day for family gatherings, and a rare invite to a segregated theme park once a year for Black folks. Mr. Eugene Floyd is a veteran, retired postal employee a member of the Elks, and former president of the Lone Star Golf Association. He shared personal memories of Juneteenth in Houston. Thanks to KPFT reporter Rad Rich.

In 1980, Texas House Bill 1016 was created by the late state representative Al Edwards, and passed in the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, declaring June 19, “Emancipation Day in Texas,” a legal state holiday.

“Even in today’s era, 158 years since the 1st Juneteenth, African Americans live a fragile, marginal existence by every socio-economic indicator and have been playing catch up since the 1870’s. Thus, Juneteenth should be understood in a proper historical context. Because it was “ONE” of the 3 mighty blows that ended chattel slavery, it should be recognized and appreciated. But it should not be mistakenly celebrated as the “Liberation” of Black people from racial oppression, domination or exploitation.”

–Dr. Mtagalise Sanyika

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Dr. Ama Ata Aidoo in 1987, speaking to a journalist about the devastating impact of colonialism, slavery and exploitation of African raw materials and its people for 500 years.

Ghanaian author, poet, playwright, feminist and scholar, Dr. Ama Ata Aidoo was born in a small village in Ghana’s central Fanti-speaking region on March 23, 1942. Her father was a strong influence and opened the first school in their village. At the age of 15, she decided that she wanted to be a writer and within just four years, had achieved that goal after entering a competition. Dr. Ama Ata Aidoo who transitioned at 81 on May 31st, 2023. She was Secretary for Education in Ghana from 1982 to 1983 under President Jerry Rawlings‘s administration. Her work, The Dilemma of a Ghost, was published in 1965, making Aidoo the first published African female dramatist.[3] As a novelist, she won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1992 with the novel Changes. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation in Accra to promote and support the work of African women writers.[4]Aidoo held a fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University in California [1] before returning to Ghana in 1969 to teach English at the University of Ghana.[13] She served as a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies there and as a lecturer in English at the University of Cape Coast, where she eventually rose to the position of professor.[14] Aidoo was also a long time visiting professor of Africana studies and literary arts at Brown University. Her work, including plays like Anowa, have been read in schools across West Africa, along with works of other greats like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe.