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Monday marks three years since Juneteenth became a federal holiday, but the date commemorating the public reading of the Emancipation Proclamation from the balcony of a stately Galveston mansion has been celebrated for decades.
It was on June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger ascended the steps of the Ashton Villa and unfurled the document issued by President Abraham Lincoln two years prior, essentially freeing the enslaved black population of Texas.
Lincoln succumbed to an assassin’s bullet on April 14, 1865.
According to a report from Houston CW affiliate KIAH, Texas Southern University (TSU) holds Juneteenth in the highest esteem because the historically black institution is barely an hour’s drive from Galveston.
“It’s a day of jubilation, it’s a day when we commemorate a day where our people were made free two years later and we’re so involved with it and so invested in it because we’ve always had people that have always been instrumental in trying to have recognition of the commemoration of this holiday,” Dr. Antoinette Christophe, an assistant professor who heads TSU’s Masters of Public Administration program, said in the report.
Dr. Leslie Wilson, a history professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, told NPR it’s not history as to why the holiday with Lone Star roots is celebrated.
"We are not celebrating the history of Juneteenth,” Wilson said in the report. “We are celebrating the symbolism of Juneteenth.
"The symbolism of Juneteenth is the transition from slavery to freedom," he added.
Per NPR, Juneteenth was originally celebrated by black Texans, but soon caught on with other black communities throughout the country.
Christophe said former State Rep. Al Edwards (D-Houston) was instrumental in having the day declared a state holiday while U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), along with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and former teacher and activist Opal Lee, worked together to get it designated at the federal level, KIAH reported.
Juneteenth is a portmanteau for June 19.