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Mint
19-06-2025
- General
- Mint
Juneteenth 2025: Significance, celebration and everything you need to know
The Juneteenth National Independence Day falls on June 19, and on this day in 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with 2,000 troops to enforce the emancipation of 250,000 enslaved Black people. This came two and a half years after President Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, delayed by Texas's remote location and resistance to ending slavery. While the 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery nationwide, June 19 became a symbolic "Independence Day" for Black Americans. In 2021, after decades of advocacy led by activists like Opal Lee, Juneteenth became the US's newest federal holiday. President Biden, during his tenure, declared this as a new federal holiday, and America's Second Independence Day. The US celebrates Juneteenth to honor both liberation and resilience. While the Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people free in Confederate states, it relied on Union enforcement. Texas, largely untouched by Union troops until 1865, became the final frontier for emancipation. But Juneteenth isn't just about the past. As scholar Angela Davis notes, it's a day to recognize "progress" while confronting America's "distance we have to travel" toward justice. It embodies the unyielding hope of a people who transformed trauma into community, education, and cultural pride, a legacy that fuels ongoing struggles for equality. Celebrating Juneteenth blends reflection, joy, and action. Here's how to engage culturally: Attending local events: Join festivals, parades, concerts, parades and events featuring music, fireworks, and family activities. These gatherings, rooted in 1866 Texas church services, emphasize community resilience. Read and attain knowledge: Read works by Maya Angelou or Frederick Douglass, listen to 'Lift Every Voice and Sing." Host a barbecue with red foods—strawberry soda, watermelon, or hibiscus tea, symbolizing ancestral sacrifice and West African heritage. Educate and Advocate: Visit museums (many offer free entry), research family histories via the Freedmen's Bureau, or volunteer. As civil rights leader John Lewis urged, use the day to 'make good trouble.' Share these heartfelt messages with your loved ones, or patriots who have a history of sacrifice towards America to honor this federal holiday: "Happy Juneteenth! Today, we celebrate the fierce hope of those who waited, the courage of those who fought, and the joy of freedom that belongs to us all. Let's honor their legacy by building a future where every voice is heard." "May we keep learning, rising, and lifting each other. Wishing you pride in our history and power in our progress." 'Sending love this Freedom Day! As Maya Angelou wrote, 'You may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise.' Let's celebrate resilience today, and every day.' 'Juneteenth reminds us that freedom is a journey we walk together. Thank you for being part of mine. Let's grill some red velvet cake, crank up the soul music, and toast to the ancestors tonight!' "Wishing you a meaningful Juneteenth. Remember: Nobody's free until everybody's free. Let's keep pushing for justice with joy in our hearts."
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Juneteenth 2025: What to know about the federal holiday
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that recognizes the freedom of formerly enslaved Black people. The commemoration traditionally takes place on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 when Major Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in the state of Texas to share the news of the Emancipation Proclamation, announcing the official end of the Civil War. This year, the holiday falls on a Thursday. Here's all you need to know about the approaching celebration: Juneteenth was signed into law as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, by former President Biden. He was surrounded by civil rights activists including Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Opal Lee. Opal Lee is known as the 'Grandmother of Juneteenth,' after walking 2.5 miles each year to symbolize the two and a half years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas. In 2016, at age 89, she walked from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., hoping to convince former President Obama to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. Five years later, Biden completed the task and awarded Opal Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her advocacy work. The first Juneteenth celebration took place in 1866, one year after Granger's order. Some referenced the holiday as 'Jubilee Day' or 'Freedom Day' and gathered in homes, parks and communities to celebrate. The holiday was first listed on the calendar of public events in 1872 with the help of the government's Freedmen's Bureau agency for newly freed Black people. Later that year, a group of Black organizers in Texas pooled together $1,000 for the purchase of 10 acres now known as Houston's Emancipation Park, where Juneteenth celebrations are hosted to date. The Freedmen's Bureau recently digitized its search portal for archives from 1865-1872 to allow family historians and genealogists to research the history of their ancestors in the United States. On Juneteenth, the U.S. Postal Service, banks and the stock market will be closed. Nonessential government employees will also be granted the day off from work. Many people use the Juneteenth holiday as a time to reflect on the country's past. Cities and states across the country typically host educational programming to inform individuals of the 250,000 Blacks who gained their freedom in honor of the holiday. Celebrations may include readings of former president Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, cook outs, festivals and Miss Juneteenth contests across the country. Some may also sing the Black national anthem, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
27-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Juneteenth 2025: What to know about the federal holiday
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that recognizes the freedom of formerly enslaved Black people. The commemoration traditionally takes place on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 when Major Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in the state of Texas to share the news of the Emancipation Proclamation, announcing the official end of the Civil War. This year, the holiday falls on a Thursday. Here's all you need to know about the approaching celebration: Juneteenth was signed into law as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, by former President Biden. He was surrounded by civil rights activists including Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Opal Lee. Opal Lee is known as the 'Grandmother of Juneteenth,' after walking 2.5 miles each year to symbolize the two and a half years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas. In 2016, at age 89, she walked from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., hoping to convince former President Obama to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. Five years later, Biden completed the task and awarded Opal Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her advocacy work. The first Juneteenth celebration took place in 1866, one year after Granger's order. Some referenced the holiday as 'Jubilee Day' or 'Freedom Day' and gathered in homes, parks and communities to celebrate. The holiday was first listed on the calendar of public events in 1872 with the help of the government's Freedmen's Bureau agency for newly freed Black people. Later that year, a group of Black organizers in Texas pooled together $1,000 for the purchase of 10 acres now known as Houston's Emancipation Park, where Juneteenth celebrations are hosted to date. The Freedmen's Bureau recently digitized its search portal for archives from 1865-1872 to allow family historians and genealogists to research the history of their ancestors in the United States. On Juneteenth, the U.S. Postal Service, banks and the stock market will be closed. Nonessential government employees will also be granted the day off from work. Many people use the Juneteenth holiday as a time to reflect on the country's past. Cities and states across the country typically host educational programming to inform individuals of the 250,000 Blacks who gained their freedom in honor of the holiday. Celebrations may include readings of former president Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, cook outs, festivals and Miss Juneteenth contests across the country. Some may also sing the Black national anthem, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
5 Things You Should Know About the Nottoway Plantation's Horrid Legacy
The Black social media-verse has been ablaze with reaction to the burning down of Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, La. Officials believe the cause of the 160-year-old structure's destruction may have been electrical. But it is a place of history, and what was lost despite what it represented was a window into the past that allows us to examine what the place really was. So here are some things you should understand about the now-burned Nottoway Plantation: The property was steeped in slavery as an industry. Nottoway was built between 1857 and 1859 for John Hampden Randolph (1813-1883), a sugar planter who owned three other plantations in Iberville Parish, La.; Blythewood, Forest Home, and Bayou Goula. He came from a family of cotton planters in Mississippi and began planting cotton in Louisiana in 1841. He switched to sugar cane, and slaves constructed the 53,000 square-foot property, through which he amassed significant wealth, according to his own papers. Some Black people at Nottoway resisted, but others found further misery. By 1860, Randolph held at least 155 human beings in bondage there. Little is known about them to this day, but according to Freedmen's Bureau records show that at least 11 people escaped during the Civil War. As the Union army drew near, Randolph took about 200 slaves from Nottoway and his other properties into Texas to grow cotton. After the war, they were freed, but 53 of them contracted with him to return. Economically, Nottoway was cursed for generations. Postwar hard times hit the South, and the plantation was significantly reduced in size. After Randolph's death, the place changed hands a number of times due to foreclosure, crop failure, tax issues, the sale of surrounding land, and other problems. At least two later owners unsuccessfully tried to make Nottoway a sugar plantation again. It wound up in the hands of widow Odessa Owen, who lived there alone, unable to care for the mansion on her own. Millionaires tried to keep profiting from the legacy. Nottoway joined the National Registry of Historic Places in 1980, and after two more sales, it went to Australian businessman Paul Ramsey in 1985. He turned the property into a popular tourist resort. Ramsey died in 2014 after pouring $15 million into Nottoway to fix it, but it was sold to New Orleans hotelier Joseph Jaeger for $3.1 million in 2019. He was killed in an auto accident in 2024, and ownership changed again last October to Dan Dyess, a Natchitoches lawyer and preservationist. The new owner doesn't get it. Dyess has been quoted in the media as intending good things for Nottoway. He has said that he and his wife are 'non-racist' people who understand how people feel about its past, but had 'nothing to do with slavery.' 'We are trying to make this a better place,' Dyess said, according to the New York Post. 'We don't have any interest in left-wing radical stuff. We need to move forward on a positive note here, and we are not going to dwell on past racial injustice.' Madison J. Gray is a New York-based journalist. He blogs at For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Mint
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
California's reparations scheme is bad policy and worse politics
Since at least 1865, when Congress voted to set up the Freedmen's Bureau, Americans have debated how and whether to compensate former slaves. In 2020, when Donald Trump had reawoken the left and George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, was murdered by a policeman, the idea of reparations—paying money to the descendants of slaves—became almost mainstream. Some Democratic politicians, under pressure from activists and eager to be on the right side of history, agreed to set up commissions to study the idea. A few years later, those commissions are coming back with recommendations. Cash reparations for slavery are not popular. Only 30% of Americans support the policy. Most of those alive today played no role in Jim Crow; none can reasonably be blamed for slavery. Nor are black Americans the only disadvantaged group: try telling an unemployed Appalachian coalminer why finite tax dollars should go on reparations rather than, say, better schools or public health. Still, unpopular policies are sometimes right. Are cash reparations for African-Americans one such case? Not long after slavery ended, the Freedmen's Bureau collapsed. Few freedmen received compensation and many ended up working as sharecroppers for their former masters in something close to indentured servitude. Emancipation was followed by the creation of a two-tier version of citizenship that lasted for a century. Until the 1960s, many black Americans lived in fear of terrorism, were shut out of many neighbourhoods and could not vote. Many were also excluded from supposedly universal programmes like the GI Bill. Plenty of the people who suffered directly from this system are still alive today. And in many cases their children and grandchildren have inherited disadvantages that have their roots in state-sanctioned discrimination. How much present racial inequality is due to that inheritance is impossible to quantify. But it is not zero and it is not 100%. The moral sentiment about reparations rests on these centuries of unfairness. Yet the cruelty of history is not the main argument. If the past were the same but there were no present-day racial gaps in income or life expectancy, the case for reparations would be weak. The main policy question, then, is how to help those who have been left behind. California shows how, in practice, it is impossible to create an actuarial table of injustice that can be consulted to determine how much cash is owed and to whom. California outlawed slavery when it joined the union in 1850, so its commission concentrated on making amends for current racial disparities. These are considerable, as they are nationwide. African-Americans die four years earlier than white Americans on average. (Perhaps less noticed is that black Americans have enjoyed the fastest gains in life expectancy over the past 20 years.) For the purpose of its calculations, the commission assumed that a life is worth $10m and, speciously, that all racial disparities in outcomes are due to racism, current or historical. It then calculated how much African-American Californians are owed. The maximum payout per person came to $1.2m. San Francisco, naturally, created its own commission, which put the figure higher, at $5m. The bill for the statewide scheme could exceed $800bn, though the commission deems even that sum to be merely a down payment. This comes as California faces a $32bn budget shortfall on an overall annual budget of $300bn. Then there is the difficulty of determining who is eligible for reparations. America, happily, is more racially fluid than when the Jim Crow era ended, which makes that hard. The commission's answer is to set up another body to determine individual claims, which is just to pose the question again. If the aim of the policy is to ease disadvantage, that can be done with race-neutral anti-poverty programmes. The expanded child-tax credit, which was part of Congress's response to covid-19, cut child poverty nationwide. It did the most for African-American children, narrowing disparities, and was popular. This is a route to the same end that is achievable. For Democrats, whose task is to build as big a coalition as possible to defeat Mr Trump's movement, it is hard to think of a policy better designed to set different groups of supporters against each other than cash reparations. Or one easier to lampoon in attack ads: 'Californian liberals vote to give Hollywood star $1m!' Gavin Newsom, the governor, appears to be looking for ways to quietly ignore the state commission. London Breed, San Francisco's mayor, has not endorsed the city council's proposal. Both should say clearly that they oppose cash reparations, and then propose policies to narrow disparities which most Americans would happily support.
