Va. – As Americans celebrate Juneteenth on Monday, local historians are sharing the history of our country’s newest federal holiday.
The holiday commemorates the day when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free, and the emancipation of all enslaved people in the United States.
Brittany Lane, a park ranger with Booker T. Washington National Monument, spends her time educating visitors on Washington and black history. She said Juneteenth is an important occasion to remember.
“When General Gordon Granger read the General Order No. 3 and let all of the finals of the over 4 million formally enslaved people know about their freedom,” Lane said.
Grace Johnson, a local history teacher said the day when everyone learned that they’re free needs to be preserved.
“The emancipation proclamation was signed in 1863 and it took two years to reach Texas,” Johnson said. “A lot of the federal men who were supposed to be enforcing it kind of waited a little bit so that way they could have one last successful harvest on the cotton plantations.”
Local historians said Juneteenth hasn’t always been widely known or taught, even in schools.
“We’re finally accepting this new narrative on how slavery is taught in the U.S. and how people think about it,” Vinton History Museum intern Mac McIntyre said.
President Biden signed the federal holiday Juneteenth into law in 2021, and historians said that’s a step in the right direction.
“There’s still a lot we can do to make sure that equality is here for all people in America,” McIntyre said. “I think that’s why a day like this is super important.”
“Freedom is a process, and the process is not over,” Lane said.