Juneteenth: An old holiday goes national, gains energy | Opinion
Amid the chaos, bombast and debate generated by the pandemic, politics, and police-related protests over the past couple of years, you may have missed something important.
We have a new national holiday: Juneteenth National Independence Day. Its annual commemoration date is June 19, but since that’s a Sunday this year the legal holiday will be June 20.
Although a recognized holiday in many states, the national holiday just was established last year, barely in time to recognize the 2021 date. So, Juneteenth 2022 will be the first for which organizations and businesses have had sufficient advance notice to plan appropriately.
While Juneteenth’s federal establishment may have been nourished by the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020-21, the holiday itself has been celebrated since the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, first learned that they had freedom.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, outlawing slavery in the Confederate states. But until the Civil War was won by the North, there was no way to enforce Emancipation in the South.
After the Confederacy’s series of surrenders earlier in 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger executed General Order No. 3 on June 19 in Galveston, freeing slaves in that last Confederate state. From that day forward, Juneteenth has been celebrated as Freedom Day by African-Americans.
Celebrations started as church-centered community gatherings in Texas and then spread throughout the South. Given the church-centered focus, in the early 20th century the event became paired with a powerful anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Lift every voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Around the same time, as the Great Migration of Black residents from the South to northern cities began, Juneteenth went with them. However, in the North, the celebrations have been more sporadic and have struggled for recognition even within the African-American community.
That certainly has been the case here within the Alleghenies, despite the presence of sizable African-American communities here. As one who has focused upon regional calendars of events for the past 20 years, I’ve witnessed Juneteenth commemorations come and go.
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But the establishment of Juneteenth as a national holiday appears to be giving this special celebration new energy. This year there are more Juneteenth events on regional calendars than I’ve ever seen before.
Huntingdon County Juneteenth Day deserves first mention because to my knowledge it is the longest, continuous-running event of its type in the region. The 13th annual event takes place from noon to 6 p.m. June 18 at Portstown Park. For information, visit Raystown.org.
Johnstown also has had a Juneteenth commemoration for a number of years. This year it has grown into a nine-day event, June 11-19, mostly in Central Park, combining music with ministry, children’s activities, variety entertainment, a health fair, roundtable discussions, a parade and a salute to African-American veterans. VisitJohnstown.com.
State College is offering multiple events June 17-18 sponsored by several organizations. The main event is the Juneteenth Festival from noon to 6 p.m. on June 18 in the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, featuring education and arts activities for children; a variety of food, jewelry, clothing and art vendors; performing arts covering poetry, spoken word, African dance and dramatic re-enactments; and music including jazz, funk, R&B, and gospel. HappyValley.com.
Finally, the Western Pennsylvania Juneteenth Celebration will be offered from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 17-19 in Pittsburgh’s Market Square and Point State Park. A long list of activities include a jubilee parade, gospel performances, a variety of music performers, cookouts, a black-tie gala and other activities. wpaJuneteenth.com.
Related: Juneteenth events set for Beaver Falls, Sewickley & Pittsburgh
And if you don’t think Juneteenth is an event for all of us to celebrate, consider the closing stanza of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”:
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
To respond to this column — or read other columns by Dave Hurst — visit www.hurstmediaworks.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Renewed Juneteenth an event for all of us to celebrate
