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Commemorations marked the day for a few years after that. Then, in the 1830s as Southern states showed no movement to end bondage, African Americans chose as their protest to celebrate July Fifth. Independence Day, in terms of true liberation and true freedom, didn’t happen for Black folks in America on July 4th, 1776. The promises of that day did not extend to all Americans. When the Declaration of Independence was signed and America was celebrating freedom, many Black people were still enslaved and considered property rather than Juneteenth: Our Other Independence Day Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, American slavery came to an end and a celebration of freedom was born African Americans in the South had transformed Independence Day into a celebration of their newly won freedom. At the time, there were about four million African Americans in the country, and winning the Civil War meant that they were now newly emancipated citizens. Not even a generation out of slavery, African Americans were inspired and empowered to transform their lives and their country. Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day. Although it has long been celebrated in the African American community, this monumental event remains largely unknown to most Americans. For Black people, July 4 holds a complicated and largely untold place in American history. We often hear about the moments in which colonists took steps toward independence. For example, in Meanwhile, at Independence Day picnics, speakers urged African Americans to contribute to the building of churches and schools and asserted their equal claim to the rights promised by the Declaration of independence. Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America. The Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress declared that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and The holiday is considered the "longest-running African-American holiday" [12] and has been called "America's second Independence Day". [13][14] Juneteenth falls on June 19 and has often been celebrated on the third Saturday in June. Historian Mitch Kachun notes that celebrations of the end of slavery have three goals: "to celebrate, to educate, and to agitate." [15] Juneteenth is a time to gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future. Discover ways to celebrate this African American cultural tradition of music, food and freedom. In Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered the keynote address at an Independence Day celebration, asking, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” He noted “that the nation’s fathers were great men for their ideals of freedom.” After the Civil War, African Americans in the South transformed Independence Day into a celebration of their newly won freedom. “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” Famed Black people in the early years of the United States had a complicated relationship to the Fourth of July holiday, Spires says, confronting a “national double-speak” in which white Americans celebrated their freedom of political expression while supporting the enslavement of Black people. Why are Black Americans daily reminded that two of the premier pinnacles of American Democracy, the Declaration of Independence and “Starr-Spangled Banner,” are rooted in centuries-old racism? As more Americans celebrate Juneteenth with family and community, it is vital to share the important historical legacy behind Juneteenth and recognize the long struggle to make it an officially recognized holiday. It is an opportunity to honor our country’s second Independence Day and reflect on our shared history and future. In the beginnings of the holiday celebrated as Black Americans’ true Independence Day, the outdoors allowed for large, raucous reunions among formerly enslaved family, many of whom had been It doesn’t reflect the full truth about Black Americans at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed. Without holidays like Juneteenth that celebrate the real experiences of Black On June 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed, marking the colonists' independence from Great Britain. But some 75 years later, some black Americans weren't ready to celebrate. This June on the 19th, many Americans will gather to celebrate Juneteenth, now the newest federal holiday in the U.S. John Adams believed that July 2nd was the correct date on which to celebrate the birth of American independence, and would reportedly turn down invitations to appear at July 4th events in protest
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