Greetings!,

I am certain you're familiar with the phrase, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It is a foundational phrase found in the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776.

From Wikipedia, the phrase serves as a powerful articulation of what it means to be a free individual in a self-governing society. It underscores the belief that the primary role of government is to protect these rights and that individuals have the right to alter or abolish any government that fails to do so. 

However, for many black citizens of the southern U.S., following the Emancipation Proclamation and Civil War, this was still a foreign concept. It actually took until June 19, 1865. On that date, Union General Gordon Granger led some 2,000 Union troops, many of whom were black, into Galveston Bay, where they announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” deriving its name from combining “June” and “nineteenth.”¹

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first Juneteenth celebration outside of Texas happened just one year after emancipation. In 1866, formerly enslaved Galvestonians who had migrated carried the tradition with them to Dallas, St. Louis, Washington D.C., and Boston, all in the same year. The holiday traveled with the people long before it was recognized by anyone in power. Texas didn't declare it an official state holiday until 1980, and it didn't become a federal holiday until 2021.

More than 160 years after a war that tore our country apart, it would seem we would have learned something. Differences in skin color, political parties, or religion should not divide us. A country of more than 340 million residents should celebrate what we can accomplish together.



Bernie & Chad

¹https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/our-american-story-juneteenth