To Be Historically Accurate, We Should Be Celebrating the Final Freeing of ALL Slaves in the United States on 6 December and NOT Juneteenth/19 June

 

The Washington Post recently ran this below article about Juneteenth becoming an Alabama State Holiday along with Jefferson Davis’ Birthday which is already a State holiday but only allowing state employees to have one day off so they have to choose which holiday they wish to celebrate.  The WaPo accurately describes the issue but fails to ask the underlying question: “Why is Juneteenth even a holiday?” Historically, 19 June or Juneteenth has no significance; see below after the WaPo extract for why.

 

NATIONAL

Juneteenth or Jefferson Davis? Ala. state workers may have to choose.

 

By Rachel Hatzipanagos  April 22, 2024 at 10:33 a.m. EDT

Alabama state Rep. Juandalynn Givan and other Black lawmakers have lobbied for years to have the state recognize the Juneteenth holiday.

“It’s an acknowledgment that history happened, and I think we need to do whatever we can to make sure our history is not lost,” Givan (D) said.

This year, lawmakers may have reached a compromise.

Under the bill H.B. 4, Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, would become a state holiday. But state employees would be able to choose between recognizing Juneteenth or the birthday of the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, on June 3 which is already a State holiday.

Complete WaPo article at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/04/22/juneteenth-jefferson-davis-holiday-alabama/?commentID=70807525-2fd5-42db-b196-f2a72ac6b8e9

The Insignificance of Juneteenth

Why is Juneteenth celebrated or 19 June a Federal Holiday when Slavery was not ended in all of the United States until the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified on 6 December 1865? Hence, shouldn’t the Federal Holiday celebrating the end of Slavery be 6 December?

Ironically, two months before the end of the Civil War, on 8 February 1865, President Biden’s home state of Delaware voted to reject the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution and so voted to continue slavery beyond the Civil War. Hence, Slavery was still legal in Delaware (and Kentucky) until enough other states ratified the amendment thereby ended slavery in Delaware on 6 December 1865, almost six months after Juneteenth. In a symbolic move, Delaware belatedly ratified the amendment on 12 February 1901, 35 years after national ratification and 38 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which, by the way, did NOT free Slaves in any Slave State that did not secede. Just to be consistent, Delaware also rejected the 14th Amendment during the Reconstruction Era.

Southern States in rebellion like Alabama and Texas were covered by the Emancipation Proclamation so Slaves there were freed on 1 January 1863. The Proclamation reads:

“That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.