Our View: We must remember, work against 'America’s original sin' this long weekend
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Father's Day is a very good reason – but not the only reason – to celebrate on Sunday.
Many of us have a three-day weekend off work because news of freedom reached still-enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
That day, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, was a significant moment in American history.
More: Celebrate Juneteenth in Greater Columbus with this slate of events, festivals
It has been commemorated in Texas as Juneteenth since June 19, 1866. But the holiday did not gain prominence until 2020, after nationwide protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
History unlearned
As important as Juneteenth is – it was made a federal holiday in 2021 – few school history books speak of Juneteenth or how it has been celebrated for 156 years.
With book banning and legislative attacks on the accurate, unvarnished teaching of history around the nation, as reflected in Ohio house bills 327 and 616, understanding the history and significance of Juneteenth has never been more important.
There will be picnics, festivals and other jubilant events for the holiday, but we must not forget that Juneteenth and other "emancipation day" celebrations have been political and cultural affairs that honor history and/or call out the need for freedom and justice.
Even though emancipation day has largely flown under the radar nationwide, there is a long tradition of honoring that history in Ohio.
In fact, the nation's oldest celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation has happened annually in Gallia County, Ohio, since 1863, when Black families there organized the first celebration.
Juneteenth is an important part of American History
Despite what many of us learned in grade school, the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery or the pain it caused. History is a complex thing and requires careful examination for true understanding.
Texas was the last Confederate state in which the proclamation was announced.
Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, a name not mentioned in most textbook, issued General Order Number 3 declaring the Lone Star State's 250,000 Black slaves free.
"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."
Slavery was not completely abolished in all states until December of 1865, with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
It reads:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
More: Our view: Let Ohio teachers teach truth. Educators, kids casualties of raging culture war
President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021. It made Juneteenth a federal holiday.
A battle for the history books
To celebrate that slavery ended, we must recognize that it existed in the first place and study and heal the scars it left on the enslaved and the freed, and on those who followed them.
There are efforts underway nationally and at the state level to further bury the sad but necessary truth.
More: Our view: Proposed laws open Ohio kids up to hateful ideology, racist conspiracies
In addition to restrictions on what can be discussed about gender and sexual orientation in Ohio, House Bill 616, which had its first hearing May 31, would bar most honest discussions in schools about the sin of slavery.
Those discussions would be deemed divisive or inherently racist concepts.
That would include so-called "inherited racial guilt"; critical race theory; intersectional theory; diversity, equity and inclusion learning outcomes; and the 1619 Project, a New York Times podcast and book about dealing with the history of racism and slavery in American history.
Where would that leave discussions about Juneteenth and the reason it still matters 156 years after Granger and American troops liberated some of the last people legally held as chattel in this nation?
Ignorance is the enemy of liberty and justice for all. Freedom is not real if minds are enslaved by lies and kept from knowledge.
This piece was written by the Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson on behalf of The Dispatch Editorial Board. Editorials are our board's fact-based assessment of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why is Juneteenth still an important holiday
