WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Did Juneteenth Get Started?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren vog Obam here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our archives. Usually for these weekend classics, I try

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<v Speaker 1>to pull episodes that are at least three years old,

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<v Speaker 1>just to give some of our older material new life.

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<v Speaker 1>Um but as this episode publishes, it's June nineteenth, also

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<v Speaker 1>known as the holiday Juneteenth or Black Independence Day. This

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<v Speaker 1>has been in the news a lot over the past

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<v Speaker 1>week as the United States has made it an official

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<v Speaker 1>national holiday, which is great, though it is only one

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<v Speaker 1>very small step toward acknowledging and hopefully healing the dire

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<v Speaker 1>effects of slavery and racism in America's past and present. Nonetheless,

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<v Speaker 1>in honor of the holiday, I wanted to pull this

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<v Speaker 1>episode from just last year, on how June tenth got started.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. Every year on

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<v Speaker 1>June nine, millions of people across a come together to

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<v Speaker 1>celebrate Juneteenth with parties and parades, prayer, breakfasts and golf tournaments,

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<v Speaker 1>cookouts and music. We spoke with Paula Austin, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>of African American studies and history at Boston University. She said,

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<v Speaker 1>you'd be surprised. There are many students who get to

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<v Speaker 1>my class and they sort of never learned about the

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<v Speaker 1>history of enslavement. They've never learned about the Civil rights movement.

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<v Speaker 1>I think they've had students who, because of where they're

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<v Speaker 1>from or their families, know about Juneteenth and have actually

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<v Speaker 1>participated in the celebrations. But most students come and they

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<v Speaker 1>don't know. But let's go back to the beginning. On

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<v Speaker 1>June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, more than two months after

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<v Speaker 1>Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant

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<v Speaker 1>at Athmatics, which all but ended the Civil War, a U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Army officer by the name of Major General Gordon Granger

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<v Speaker 1>arrived in Galveston, Texas with two momentous announcements, the end

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<v Speaker 1>of the Civil War and with it, the end of slavery.

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<v Speaker 1>Nobody is quite sure why it took so long for

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<v Speaker 1>the news of emancipation to reach Texas. Several stories have

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<v Speaker 1>been told throughout the years, though none has ever been confirmed,

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<v Speaker 1>including one of an earlier messenger who was killed on

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<v Speaker 1>his way to Texas to tell the news of freedom.

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<v Speaker 1>Others believe that some enslavers knew the truth but simply

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<v Speaker 1>continued going about business as usual. The most likely is

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<v Speaker 1>simply that there were not enough troops to enforce the

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<v Speaker 1>Emancipation Proclamation, whether enslaved people knew about it or not,

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<v Speaker 1>so things remained status quo, that is until Major General

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<v Speaker 1>Granger showed up. After Granger's announcement, some of the two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty thousand freed people in Texas immediately left

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<v Speaker 1>for the promise of true freedom in the North, while

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<v Speaker 1>others traveled to rejoin family members. One formerly enslaved person,

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<v Speaker 1>Molly Harrold, said, in the Slave Narratives of Texas, we

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<v Speaker 1>all walked down the road, singing and shouting to beat

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<v Speaker 1>the band. Others stayed defined, paying work in the fields

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<v Speaker 1>and elsewhere. That day marks what is now often called

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<v Speaker 1>Black in Dependence Day or the Black fourth of July.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the American celebration of Freedom from Slavery. Juneteenth was

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<v Speaker 1>first observed in Texas in eighteen sixty six. It wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>officially recognized as a holiday in any state until Texas

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<v Speaker 1>did so in nineteen seventy nine. In recent years, both

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<v Speaker 1>the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Senate have formally recognized June nineteenth as Juneteenth Independence Day.

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<v Speaker 1>U S. Senator Corey Booker said in on this day,

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<v Speaker 1>we must confront the ugly parts of our history and

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<v Speaker 1>honor the slaves who suffered and died under a repressive regime.

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<v Speaker 1>We must also pay tribute to all those who had

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<v Speaker 1>the strength and conviction to fight to end slavery and

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<v Speaker 1>keep our union together. Juneteenth Independence Day is also an

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<v Speaker 1>important moment to recognize how far we've come and take

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<v Speaker 1>note of how far we have yet to go. Certainly,

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<v Speaker 1>during the original Juneteenth there was still a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>work to be done. It came just months after the

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<v Speaker 1>Civil War ended, and two years to the Emancipation Proclamation

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<v Speaker 1>was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The thirteenth Amendment to

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<v Speaker 1>the U. S Constitution, which abolished slavery, had been passed

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<v Speaker 1>by Congress and was well on its way to being

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<v Speaker 1>ratified by the States, but the fourteenth and fifteen guaranteeing

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<v Speaker 1>equal protection and the right to vote to all citizens

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<v Speaker 1>regardless of skin color, were still a couple of years off,

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<v Speaker 1>and not all enslaved people in Texas were immediately freed.

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<v Speaker 1>Some held by defiant plantation owners were not emancipated. Until

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<v Speaker 1>much later. Some formerly enslaved people who tried to leave,

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<v Speaker 1>Historical reports show were tracked down and killed. Many more

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<v Speaker 1>stepped into a future of poverty, fear, and uncertainty. Austin

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<v Speaker 1>suggests that many americans ignorance about Juneteenth stems from a

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<v Speaker 1>disinclination to completely face the country's past with slavery, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's far reaching and continuing aftermath. Still, Juneteenth has persevered.

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<v Speaker 1>It's observance has waned through the years under the oppression

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<v Speaker 1>of Jim Crow laws and attitudes, but the festivities that

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<v Speaker 1>began and in Texas eventually spread to more states, and

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<v Speaker 1>the idea of commemorating black independence picked up through the

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<v Speaker 1>Civil rights era of the nineteen sixties, and the parties

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<v Speaker 1>continue today. Austin said, the kinds of celebrations that I've

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<v Speaker 1>seen and been a part of have been incredibly wonderful.

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<v Speaker 1>They're about Black culture, They're about Black history. They're about

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<v Speaker 1>the resistance and the resilience of the black community. Several

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<v Speaker 1>years before Granger made his June nineteenth declaration in Galveston,

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<v Speaker 1>famed American orator Frederick Douglas, himself formerly enslaved, spoke to

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<v Speaker 1>an abolitionist group in New York about the fourth of

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<v Speaker 1>July as being a day of independence and how it

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<v Speaker 1>didn't fit for all Americans. He said, what to the

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<v Speaker 1>American slave, is your fourth of July? I answer, A

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<v Speaker 1>day that reveals to him, more than all other days

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<v Speaker 1>in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which

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<v Speaker 1>he is the constant victim. Openly, a former school teacher

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<v Speaker 1>and counselor in fort Worth, Texas, has been instrumental in

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<v Speaker 1>trying to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. Lee,

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<v Speaker 1>who is ninety three years old, has been part of

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<v Speaker 1>the Fort Worth Juneteenth festivities for more than forty years.

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<v Speaker 1>She said last year, it's as important as the fourth

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<v Speaker 1>of July. In fact, I dream someday they celebrate from

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteenth to the fourth like they do. Marti Gras.

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<v Speaker 1>I haven't dreamed as large as the Rose Bowl or

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<v Speaker 1>the Macy's Parade, but I'm getting there. To those who

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<v Speaker 1>observe Juneteenth, despite its shaky beginnings and it's still unfulfilled, pledge,

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<v Speaker 1>the day still holds a promise of freedom, independence, equality,

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<v Speaker 1>ideas and ideals always worth celebrating. Today's episode is based

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<v Speaker 1>on the article How Juneteenth Became Black Independence Day on

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff Works dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with

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<v Speaker 1>how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clay.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

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