This year, Juneteenth turns 160. While it only became a federal holiday in 2021 — joining the calendar as America’s 11th official holiday — it commemorates one of the country’s oldest and most painful journeys: the ongoing fight for true, tangible and equitable freedom.
Most people know that Juneteenth marks the date — June 19, 1865 — when Union troops led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. What many don’t know is that this was more than two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued it.
Edmond W. Davis
That delay was no accident. It wasn’t about slow communication; it was about systemic resistance. White slaveholders knowingly withheld freedom, squeezing the last drops of unpaid labor from enslaved Black people until federal troops forced their hand.
But Texas wasn’t alone in dragging its feet. America’s emancipation was uneven, delayed and defiant in the face of moral law.
Freedom Days you didn’t learn about
While Juneteenth rightfully holds a place of prominence, several states have their own “freedom days,” local reckonings with emancipation:
- Arkansas: April 14, 1865 — The day President Lincoln was assassinated and a symbolic date for freedom. Many local historians refer to this observance as “Aprilteenth.”
- Kentucky: Aug. 8, 1865 (observed) / Dec. 6, 1865 (ratified with the 13th Amendment) — Celebrated as “Augusteenth.”
- Delaware: Dec. 1901 — The shocking year in which Delaware finally ratified the 13th Amendment, nearly four decades late, remembered now as “
Decemberteenth.”
These dates matter. They remind us that emancipation wasn’t a single event. It was a slow grind. Slavery didn’t end like the flip of a light switch. It was more like trying to extinguish a wildfire with a teaspoon. And the flames burned longer in places that chose to resist.
Nine months that shaped a nation
From March 3 to Dec. 6, 1865 — a span of 278 days — America saw some of its most transformative moments:
- March 3: The Freedmen’s Bureau was created to aid formerly enslaved people
- April 9: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox
- April 14: President Lincoln was assassinated
- June 19: Juneteenth; emancipation was finally enforced in Texas
- December 6: The 13th Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery
These nine months redefined law, liberty and leadership. They also gave birth to a new America — although one still haunted by the ghosts of its past.
Freedom on the plate
At any authentic Juneteenth celebration, the food tells a story as rich as any textbook — one rooted in resilience, remembrance and ritual. Red foods are central: red velvet cake, hibiscus tea (also known as sorrel), strawberry soda, spicy hot links, watermelon, and tomato-based dishes.
“At any authentic Juneteenth celebration, the food tells a story as rich as any textbook.”
Why red? According to culinary historian Michael Twitty and others, the color has deep West African spiritual significance, symbolizing blood, sacrifice and transformation. These culinary traditions traveled with the enslaved and were kept alive, generation after generation, even in bondage.
Barbecue, too, is sacred. Smoking meats over open flame was not only practical, it was spiritual. It represented autonomy in a world designed to steal it. After emancipation, barbecues became safe havens of joy, community and pride. Pit-fired brisket, ribs and hot links weren’t just meals — they were a kind of declaration: We are still here.
Juneteenth menus often include:
- Fried chicken and red beans and rice, Southern staples rooted in African culinary heritage
- Sweet potatoes, collard greens and cornbread, resilience foods from survival farming
- Macaroni and cheese, banana pudding and succotash, merging African, Southern and Native foodways
Even the sugary treats — strawberry punch and red soda — carry deeper meaning when you consider the brutal history of sugar production during slavery.
Global reverberations of Emancipation
Although Juneteenth began in Texas, its spirit reverberates globally. Many nations have their own versions of Black freedom celebrations:
- Mexico: In the town of El Nacimiento, Juneteenth is celebrated as Día de los Negros. The region served as a haven for self-liberated Black Texans. Mexico’s first Black president, Vicente Guerrero, abolished slavery and welcomed the oppressed.
- Haiti: The first Black republic, born of revolution, whose triumph over Napoleon’s forces inspired liberation movements across the Americas.
- Canada: Celebrates Emancipation Day on Aug. 1, marking the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.
- Nigeria, Japan and the Afro-Latin diaspora hold cultural commemorations honoring African liberation and identity.
Even American institutions carry hidden truths. Jack Daniel’s, one of the most iconic American whiskeys, owes its distilling tradition to Nathan “Nearest” Green, an enslaved Black man who taught Jack himself. These untold stories force us to reexamine legacy, credit and cultural theft.
What Juneteenth is and isn’t
Juneteenth isn’t “Black Fourth of July.” It’s not a theme party or a corporate marketing opportunity. It’s a day of sacred remembrance. It’s about education, reflection and recognition of America’s original sins and its ongoing struggle toward redemption.
“Juneteenth isn’t ‘Black Fourth of July.’”
As the holiday becomes more mainstream, there’s a real danger of it being sanitized, diluted or commercialized. But make no mistake: Juneteenth is not about selling themed napkins or red cupcakes at chain stores. It’s about the people who paid for freedom in blood, sweat and silence.
The unburied truth and the empty chair
Many of those emancipated in 1865 never saw true equality. Their land was stolen, their rights denied, their families torn apart. And still, they fought to build something lasting. Each Juneteenth, we honor not just their liberation but also their labor and legacy.
We remember that some freedom dates were delayed — not just because of distance, but because of denial. Texas may have been the last Confederate state to hear the news, but places like Delaware — which held on to slavery until 1901 — reveal a darker truth. America always has had two clocks: one for promises and one for people.
A final word from the table
As Juneteenth enters its 160th year, let us remember this: Freedom is not static. It must be fought for, protected and re-learned by every generation.
Sometimes the best way to begin that dialogue is not in a classroom or a courtroom, but around a table — with a plate of smoked brisket, a glass of hibiscus tea and a slice of red velvet cake.
These are not just dishes. They are declarations. They say: We remember. We celebrate. We are still rising.
And in that spirit — of memory, of resilience, and of delicious resistance — Juneteenth lives on.
Edmond W. Davis is a social historian, retired history professor, a socioemotional intelligence expert and author of multiple historical texts, including works on the Tuskegee Airmen. He is a former director of the Derek Olivier Research Institute for the Prevention of Gun Violence. Davis also is founder of the National HBCU Black Wall Street Career Fest.
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