			Juneteenth The first and only true

African-American Holiday Celebration

By Joe Certaine, founding president

United States Colored troops living History Association

At one o’clock on the afternoon of June 19, 1865 in Galveston Texas, General Gordon Granger, commander of the Union troops sent into Texas, stepped onto the balcony of the Strand Hotel. Granger issued General Order #3, which told the slaves in Texas that they were free.

As slaves in the city and countryside realized that they were free, they immediately began what we know today, as the celebration of the Jubilee, “Freedom Day” Juneteenth.

Spontaneous celebrations occurred. The celebration was tempered only by the sadness of knowing that “father Abraham” was dead…killed two months before in Washington D. C.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation, officially enacted in January of 1863 freed some slaves, in most cases only in areas where there was a sizable Union force was the Emancipation Proclamation ever enforced and even then reluctantly. In fact, it is estimated that more than 800,000 slaves were unaffected by the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation.

On most occasions the slaves learned they were free from other slaves who heard it from Black Union soldiers who were from one of the 171 Infantry, Cavalry or Artillery regiments that made up the United States Colored Troops, the army of Black men who helped the Union win the Civil War. These were the primary enforcers of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Although the Civil War had been officially over for two months and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been in effect for two and a half years, Black people were still enslaved in Texas and other areas of the deep South until the Union Army’s United States Colored Troops began to spread the word to their brothers and sisters as more and more Confederate territory was occupied. Until then, most white people didn’t let the slaves know that they were free. In most instances even the White regiments of the Union Army did little to inform Black people of their freedom.

Union General Gordon H.Granger was given command of the Department of Texas on June 10, 1865, by Gen. Philip H. Sheridan,^qv commander of the Military Division of the Southwest. Upon his arrival in Galveston on June 19, he officially declared that the institution of slavery^qv was dead, setting off joyful displays by Texas freedmen. Granger's proclamation formed the basis for the annual "Juneteenth"^qv festivities, which celebrate the end of slavery in Texas. Granger also declared that laws passed by the Confederate government were void, that Confederate soldiers were paroled, that all persons having public property, including cotton, should turn it in to the United States Army, and that all privately owned cotton was to be turned in to the army for compensation. He counseled blacks against congregating around towns and military posts, remaining unemployed, or expecting welfare; rather he advised them to remain on the plantations and to sign labor agreements with their former owners while awaiting further assistance from the Freedmen's Bureau,^qv which had not yet been established in the state. For six weeks Granger took this message into the interior of the state.

As word of the coming of Jubilee spread, Black people designated June 19^th as Juneteenth. Juneteenth was destined to be celebrated with great vigor, each year since the first spontaneous celebration, one hundred forty-one years ago.

The oral history of Juneteenth has the freed slaves of Texas and other Confederate states, where it had been against the law to provide slaves with certain types of clothing or allow them to learn to read, casting off their rags and putting on the liberated clothing of their former masters. As recent as the mid 1960’s in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, African-American celebrants of Juneteenth called “fantastics” dressed up in the formal clothes of “Mister Charlie and “Miss Ann” complete with parasol. They did the cakewalk and other traditional dances while moving through Black neighborhood on Juneteenth en- route to Emancipation Park for the day’s events.

Juneteenth is traditionally celebrated with parades, rodeo, community-wide feasts, dances, and speeches listing the accomplishments of the previous year. In the early days families told of learning to read, or of finding their lost family members. Pastors told of building a church. It was always the basic accomplishments that mattered most.

As the years passed Black politicians told of getting elected and Black business people told of starting businesses. Civic leaders told of schools and students demonstrated their newly learned skills. The oral tradition of Juneteenth spread all across the South.

The holiday was accepted and often Black workers would be allowed to take all or a part of the day off from their work (to be made up later). As the great migration from the South began, it became more difficult to take a day off from work in the northern industrial cities. Each generation in the North saw less celebration of Junteenth. The civil rights movement and the coming end to segregation contributed to Juneteenth slipping into history for a number of years. In the late 1970’s Texas made Juneteenth a state holiday. It was followed by wide acceptance in the South as a holiday in the Black community even before the designation of the King holiday. Today, more than 200 cities celebrate Juneteenth. Philadelphia, PA is the largest of the major cities in the North with a roster of Juneteenth activities.

The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a center of civil war heritage. Philadelphia’s Black community was a force within the anti-slavery and abolitionist movement providing speakers and organizational leadership to countless groups of Freedmen and other fraternal organizations launched by the African-Methodist Episcopal Church and other progressive denominations. Philadelphia was a center for the recruitment and training for the United States Colored Troops as well as their officers. Black families from Philadelphia and the region eagerly sent their men to fight for the coming of Jubilee.

The Black community in Philadelphia raised the money to commission the design and production of the regimental battle flags for the USCT Units that were formed, trained and equipped in Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania towns. Philadelphia itself was the primary center of social and political activism for the Black community in the North before and during the Civil War. Philadelphia continued to be political and cultural center for Black America well into the twentieth century. It is more than appropriate that Philadelphia’s Black community once again assumes the leadership role in preserving the Juneteenth legacy. For more information about Juneteenth and the role of African Americans during the U.S. Civil War and Westward expansion contact:

Joe Certaine at jcertaine@gmail.com or go to www.descendantsjubileeproject.com

Pop-up Beer Garden: Black Colleges Matter and Unsung Hero Award

Johnson House Historic Site, Inc.

Saturday, June 18, 2016 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)

Philadelphia, PA

Adisa Iwa, Morehouse College graduate and screenwriter/producer for multiple hit television shows including Law & Order: SVU; NYPD Blue and Dark Angel; joins other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) graduates and scholars to celebrate the history and significance of education of African Americans after the civil war to the present. HBCUs have played an important role in the creation of the Black middle class and continue to enroll morefirst-generation African Americans than other universities. This panel will examine the historic involvement of African Americans and Quakers in the establishment of these institutions (Institute for Colored Youth, known today as Cheyney University), celebrate the many achievements of HBUCs, and examine the current struggle for survival.