1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal Bam here. Every year on June nineteen, millions 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,159 Speaker 1: of people across America come together to celebrate Juneteenth with 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: parties and parades, prayer, breakfasts, and golf tournaments, cookouts and music. 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: The holiday is now officially recognized in forty seven states 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,279 Speaker 1: plus Washington, d C. Though it hasn't been made a 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: national holiday yet despite having been around for more than 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty years. We spoke with Paula Austin, 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: a professor of African American studies and history at Boston University. 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: She said, you'd be surprised. There are many students who 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 1: get to my class and they sort of never learned 12 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: about the history of enslavement. They've never learned about the 13 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: Civil rights movement. I think they've had students who, because 14 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: of where they're from or their families, know about Juneteenth 15 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: and have actually participated in the celebrations. But most students 16 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: come and they don't know. But let's go back to 17 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: the beginning. On June eighteen sixty five, more than two 18 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses 19 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: S grant at apematics, which all but ended the Civil War. 20 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: A U. S. Army officer by the name of Major 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with two momentous announcements, 22 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War and with it, the 23 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: end of slavery. Nobody is quite sure why it took 24 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: so long for the news of emancipation to reach Texas. 25 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: Several stories have been told throughout the years, though none 26 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: has ever been confirmed, including one of an earlier messenger 27 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: who was killed on his way to Texas to tell 28 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: the news of freedom. Others believe that some enslavers knew 29 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: the truth but simply continued going about business as usual. 30 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: The most likely is simply that there were not enough 31 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: troops to enforce the emancipation Proclamation, whether enslaved people knew 32 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: about it or not, so things remained status quo, that 33 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: is until Major General Granger showed up. After Granger's announcement, 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: some of the two hundred and fifty thousand people in 35 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: Texas immediately left for the promise of true freedom in 36 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: the North, while others traveled to rejoin family members. One 37 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: formerly enslaved person, Molly Harrold, said in the slave narratives 38 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: of Texas. We all walked down the road, singing and 39 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: shouting to beat the band. Others stayed defined, paying work 40 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: in the fields and elsewhere. That day marks what is 41 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: now often called Black Independence Day or the Black fourth 42 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: of July. It's the American celebration of freedom from slavery. 43 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: Juneteenth was first observed in Texas in eighteen sixty six. 44 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: It wasn't officially recognized as a holiday in any state 45 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: until Texas did so in nineteen seventy nine. Since then, 46 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: only North Dakota, South Dakota, and Hawaii have yet to 47 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: declare it a holiday. In recent years, both the U. S. 48 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate have formally 49 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: recognized June nineteenth as Juneteenth Independence Day. Various movements to 50 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: grant the day status as a national holiday are ongoing. 51 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: U S. Senator Corey Booker said in twenty eighteen, on 52 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: this day, we must confront the ugly parts of our 53 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: history and honor the slaves who suffered and died under 54 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: a repressive regime. We must also pay tribute to all 55 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: those who had the strength and conviction to fight to 56 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:20,119 Speaker 1: end slavery and keep our union together. Juneteenth Independence Day 57 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,239 Speaker 1: is also an important moment to recognize how far we've 58 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: come and take note of how far we have yet 59 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: to go. Certainly, during the original Juneteenth, there was still 60 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: a lot of work to be done. It came just 61 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: months after the Civil War ended and two years after 62 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The 63 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: Thirteenth Amendment to the U. S Constitution, which abolished slavery, 64 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: had been passed by Congress and was well on its 65 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: way to being ratified by the States, but the fourteenth 66 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: and fifteenth guaranteeing equal protection and the right to vote 67 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: to all citizens regardless of skin color, were still a 68 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: couple of years off, and not all enslaved people in 69 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: Texas were immediately freed. Some held by defiant plantation owners 70 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: were not emancipated until much later. Some formerly enslaved people 71 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: who tried to leave, historical reports show, were tracked down 72 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: and killed. Many more stepped into a future of poverty, fear, 73 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: and uncertainty. Austin suggests that many Americans ignorance about Juneteenth 74 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: stems from a disinclination to completely face the country's past 75 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: with slavery, and it's far reaching and continuing aftermath. Still 76 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: Juneteenth has persevered. It's observance has waned through the years 77 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: under the oppression of Jim Crow laws and attitudes, but 78 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: the festivities that began in Texas eventually spread to more states, 79 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: and the idea of commemorating black independence picked up through 80 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: the civil rights era of the nineteen sixties, and the 81 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: parties continue today. Austin said, the kinds of celebrations that 82 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 1: I've seen and been a part of have been incredibly wonderful. 83 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: They're about Black culture, They're about Black history. They're about 84 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: the resistance and the resilience of the black community. Several 85 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: years before Granger made his June nineteenth declaration in Galveston, 86 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: famed American orator Frederick Douglas, himself formerly enslaved, spoke to 87 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: an abolitionist group in New York about the fourth of 88 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: July as being a day of independence and how it 89 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: didn't fit for all Americans. He said, what to the 90 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: American slave is your fourth of July? I answer? A 91 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: day that reveals to him, more than all other days 92 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which 93 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: he is the constant victim. Openly a former school teacher 94 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 1: and counselor in Fort Worth, Texas, has been instrumental in 95 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: trying to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. This year, 96 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: she'll walk from the Fort Worth Convention Center to the 97 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: Will Rogers Colisseum, leading a caravan and urging people to 98 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,040 Speaker 1: sign a petition for the cause. Lee, who is ninety 99 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: three years old, has been part of the Fort Worth 100 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: Juneteenth festivities for more than forty years. She said last year, 101 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: it's as important as the Fourth of July. In fact, 102 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: I dream someday they celebrate from the nineteenth to the 103 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: fourth like they do. Marty Gras, I haven't dreamed as 104 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: large as the Rose Bowl or the Macy's Parade, but 105 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: I'm getting there. To those who observe June tenth, despite 106 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: its shaky beginnings and it's still unfulfilled, pledge, the day 107 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: still holds a promise of freedom, independence, equality, ideas and 108 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: ideals always worth celebrating. Today's episode was written by John 109 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this 110 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit how Stuff works dot com. 111 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heeart Radio. For more 112 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart radio, app, Apple podcasts, 113 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.