Juneteenth 2026

Today is Juneteenth. Let’s think about that — briefly, since as an old cishet white guy I have limited personal experience here, but can speak respectfully.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a story about the end of slavery in the United States. President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation 2 years earlier in January of 1863, but the Southern states – even those already defeated – wouldn’t implement it without compulsion. This is exactly like the Southern states who took 14 years to comply with school desegregation, but in the aftermath of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act took only 14 hours to redistrict to eliminate all majority-Black Congressional districts. They are like a rubber band held taut, eager to snap back into racism and fascist control of the wealthy if the grip of civilization is loosened for even a moment.

Let’s start out with a view from an historian, in this case the estimable Heather Cox Richardson. (I’m aware of the irony here: I as an old cishet white New Englander am referring you to another old(ish) cishet white New Englander on a subject of relevance to Black Americans, and Southern history. Suffice to say the travails of mid-19th century American history are her specialty, and she knows whereof she speaks.)

Basically, in defiance of the Emancipation Proclamation, Southern slavers continued to hold slaves more or less at gunpoint. In June of 1865, Galveston fell to US forces as one of the last slaver strongholds. Shortly thereafter, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Texas to take charge of the post-battle situation, apparently along with considerable Black soldiers. He and his troops began to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation at gunpoint, as required by law.

On 1865-Jun-19, he issued General Order #3, shown here both in printed form for publication and in the handwritten form archived in order books, preserved on the US National Archives & the Internet Archive.

Granger pretty much showed up to tell white folks at gunpoint: “No, really. This is the law now, and you all gotta follow the law. Start now.”

(They didn’t like it. Modern Republicans apparently still don’t, as recently exemplified by Republican icon Charlie Kirk’s scolding Blacks for celebrating Juneteenth, because he felt it cast shade on the “real” Independence Day, July 4th!)

Previously on this Crummy Little Blog That Nobody Reads (CLBTNR), we’ve mused on the Black origins of Memorial Day, and what we might learn from returning to those roots. Juneteenth makes me wonder: what other worthy traditions have we missed because White supremacists are always suppressing anything minority-related?

Juneteenth is pretty cool: we should all look forward to the day when we can celebrate together our freedom from slavery and racism. This is not yet that day.

The Weekend Conclusion

American Blacks already know all about how to celebrate Juneteenth. Whites can learn that it is a Second Independence Day, this time liberating all of us.

That’s not so intimidating, is it?

(Ceterum censeo, Trump incarceranda est!)

(Et ceterum censeo, index Epsteiniani divulganda est!)

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Notes & References

Nope. Not today. Important holiday, you know.