1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vog Obam here with a classic episode 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,319 Speaker 1: from our archives. Usually for these weekend classics, I try 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: to pull episodes that are at least three years old, 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 1: just to give some of our older material new life. 6 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: Um but as this episode publishes, it's June nineteenth, also 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: known as the holiday Juneteenth or Black Independence Day. This 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: has been in the news a lot over the past 9 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: week as the United States has made it an official 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: national holiday, which is great, though it is only one 11 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: very small step toward acknowledging and hopefully healing the dire 12 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: effects of slavery and racism in America's past and present. Nonetheless, 13 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: in honor of the holiday, I wanted to pull this 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: episode from just last year, on how June tenth got started. 15 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. Every year on 16 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: June nine, millions of people across a come together to 17 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: celebrate Juneteenth with parties and parades, prayer, breakfasts and golf tournaments, 18 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: cookouts and music. We spoke with Paula Austin, a professor 19 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,839 Speaker 1: of African American studies and history at Boston University. She said, 20 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: you'd be surprised. There are many students who get to 21 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: my class and they sort of never learned about the 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: history of enslavement. They've never learned about the Civil rights movement. 23 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: I think they've had students who, because of where they're 24 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: from or their families, know about Juneteenth and have actually 25 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: participated in the celebrations. But most students come and they 26 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: don't know. But let's go back to the beginning. On 27 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, more than two months after 28 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant 29 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: at Athmatics, which all but ended the Civil War, a U. S. 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: Army officer by the name of Major General Gordon Granger 31 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: arrived in Galveston, Texas with two momentous announcements, the end 32 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: of the Civil War and with it, the end of slavery. 33 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: Nobody is quite sure why it took so long for 34 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: the news of emancipation to reach Texas. Several stories have 35 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: been told throughout the years, though none has ever been confirmed, 36 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: including one of an earlier messenger who was killed on 37 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,679 Speaker 1: his way to Texas to tell the news of freedom. 38 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: Others believe that some enslavers knew the truth but simply 39 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: continued going about business as usual. The most likely is 40 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: simply that there were not enough troops to enforce the 41 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: Emancipation Proclamation, whether enslaved people knew about it or not, 42 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: so things remained status quo, that is until Major General 43 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: Granger showed up. After Granger's announcement, some of the two 44 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand freed people in Texas immediately left 45 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: for the promise of true freedom in the North, while 46 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: others traveled to rejoin family members. One formerly enslaved person, 47 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: Molly Harrold, said, in the Slave Narratives of Texas, we 48 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: all walked down the road, singing and shouting to beat 49 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: the band. Others stayed defined, paying work in the fields 50 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: and elsewhere. That day marks what is now often called 51 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: Black in Dependence Day or the Black fourth of July. 52 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: It's the American celebration of Freedom from Slavery. Juneteenth was 53 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: first observed in Texas in eighteen sixty six. It wasn't 54 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: officially recognized as a holiday in any state until Texas 55 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,839 Speaker 1: did so in nineteen seventy nine. In recent years, both 56 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S. 57 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: Senate have formally recognized June nineteenth as Juneteenth Independence Day. 58 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: U S. Senator Corey Booker said in on this day, 59 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: we must confront the ugly parts of our history and 60 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: honor the slaves who suffered and died under a repressive regime. 61 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: We must also pay tribute to all those who had 62 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: the strength and conviction to fight to end slavery and 63 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: keep our union together. Juneteenth Independence Day is also an 64 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: important moment to recognize how far we've come and take 65 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: note of how far we have yet to go. Certainly, 66 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: during the original Juneteenth there was still a lot of 67 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: work to be done. It came just months after the 68 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: Civil War ended, and two years to the Emancipation Proclamation 69 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The thirteenth Amendment to 70 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: the U. S Constitution, which abolished slavery, had been passed 71 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: by Congress and was well on its way to being 72 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: ratified by the States, but the fourteenth and fifteen guaranteeing 73 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: equal protection and the right to vote to all citizens 74 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: regardless of skin color, were still a couple of years off, 75 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: and not all enslaved people in Texas were immediately freed. 76 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: Some held by defiant plantation owners were not emancipated. Until 77 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: much later. Some formerly enslaved people who tried to leave, 78 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: Historical reports show were tracked down and killed. Many more 79 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: stepped into a future of poverty, fear, and uncertainty. Austin 80 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: suggests that many americans ignorance about Juneteenth stems from a 81 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 1: disinclination to completely face the country's past with slavery, and 82 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: it's far reaching and continuing aftermath. Still, Juneteenth has persevered. 83 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: It's observance has waned through the years under the oppression 84 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: of Jim Crow laws and attitudes, but the festivities that 85 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 1: began and in Texas eventually spread to more states, and 86 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: the idea of commemorating black independence picked up through the 87 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: Civil rights era of the nineteen sixties, and the parties 88 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: continue today. Austin said, the kinds of celebrations that I've 89 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: seen and been a part of have been incredibly wonderful. 90 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,559 Speaker 1: They're about Black culture, They're about Black history. They're about 91 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: the resistance and the resilience of the black community. Several 92 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: years before Granger made his June nineteenth declaration in Galveston, 93 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,919 Speaker 1: famed American orator Frederick Douglas, himself formerly enslaved, spoke to 94 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: an abolitionist group in New York about the fourth of 95 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: July as being a day of independence and how it 96 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: didn't fit for all Americans. He said, what to the 97 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: American slave, is your fourth of July? I answer, A 98 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: day that reveals to him, more than all other days 99 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which 100 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: he is the constant victim. Openly, a former school teacher 101 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: and counselor in fort Worth, Texas, has been instrumental in 102 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: trying to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. Lee, 103 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: who is ninety three years old, has been part of 104 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: the Fort Worth Juneteenth festivities for more than forty years. 105 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: She said last year, it's as important as the fourth 106 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: of July. In fact, I dream someday they celebrate from 107 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: the nineteenth to the fourth like they do. Marti Gras. 108 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: I haven't dreamed as large as the Rose Bowl or 109 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: the Macy's Parade, but I'm getting there. To those who 110 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: observe Juneteenth, despite its shaky beginnings and it's still unfulfilled, pledge, 111 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: the day still holds a promise of freedom, independence, equality, 112 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: ideas and ideals always worth celebrating. Today's episode is based 113 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: on the article How Juneteenth Became Black Independence Day on 114 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain 115 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with 116 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clay. 117 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 118 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:08,799 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.