Photo credit: Why Juneteenth Matters – ASALH – The Founders of Black History Month
On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed a bill into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. June 19, 1865, is known as Juneteenth, Day of Freedom, and Emancipation Day.
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln in September 1862, freeing all enslaved people. However, enslaved men and women in the Union States were not free until 1865 after the ratification of the thirteenth amendment.
Upon leaving their mistresses after receiving the news of their freedom black women took with them fancy dresses, underclothes, trinkets, ribbons, and bows for the hair of their children. During the celebrations of freedom, black women would strut around in the dresses they had taken from their former mistresses’ closets. Historians report that the celebrations included good food, dancing, and singing along with the women parading.
The black women displayed their pride and joy in their freedom. The Juneteenth parade was an opportunity for self-expression by these once restrained black women.
In later years these acts of self-expression, parades, and celebrations would lead to Juneteenth festivals and pageants. Today black women remain an integral part of the work put into the Juneteenth Celebrations.
As we remember and celebrate, we must not forget that there is much more that needs to be done. So many of us are not free. Many have been taken and sold for sex and labor. There are women being held captive in their own homes. Equality and justice continue to be rights that we continue to fight for.
“No one is free until we are all free.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Happy Juneteenth to the Ancestors!
Happy Juneteenth to my sisters and brothers!
Photo Credit: http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/jun/18/juneteenth-african-american-holiday/
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