Juneteenth in United States

Juneteenth celebrates equal rights and unity in the USA. ©iStockphoto.com/Jani Bryson

What do people do?

A range of public, community and private events are held to celebrate Juneteenth, often on a weekend close to June 19. These include:

• Baseball games.
• Pot luck outdoor cookouts, barbecues or picnics.
• Workplace lunches.
• Rodeos.
• Neighborhood or block parties.
• Community flag raising ceremonies.
• Juneteenth displays in city halls, libraries, schools and post offices.
• Essay or artwork competitions for young people.
• Presentations of community service awards.
• The distribution of Juneteenth buttons, t-shirts, mugs and bags.

Some people also decorate conference rooms or corridors at their workplace, their neighborhood and yards with Juneteenth banners, yard signs and flags to raise awareness of the event.

Public life

Juneteenth is a partial or full state holiday, or an official observance in about half of the US states, including Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

In some states, people employed by the state have a day off work. Stores, post offices and other organizations and businesses are likely to be open as usual, but some may be closed or have restricted opening hours in some areas. Many public transit services operate to their usual schedule, but there may be some changes. There may be some local disruption to traffic around large scale public events.

Background

In the United States, slavery began shortly after the first English colonists arrived and lasted until the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect on January 1, 1863. On that date Texas was largely controlled by forces fighting for the Confederate States, which opposed the abolition of slavery. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived to take control of Texas and enforce the emancipation of slaves in the state. In Galveston, Texas, the newly freed slaves held large public celebrations and so laid the base for future Juneteenth activities. The word 'Juneteenth' resulted from the words 'June Nineteenth' being slurred together in speech.

After 1865, Juneteenth was mainly celebrated in Texas. Parks have been established on land bought by former slaves to hold Juneteenth celebrations in the Texan cities of Austin, Houston and Mexia. However, it is now a state holiday or observance in more than half of the US states and there is a campaign for Juneteenth to become a national holiday or observance throughout the nation.  Juneteenth celebrations are also held in other countries around the world, including Ghana, Honduras, Japan, Taiwan and Trinidad and Tobago.

Symbols

The Juneteenth flag consists of a rectangle. The lower part of the rectangle is red and the upper part is blue and it has a solid white, five-pointed star at its center. The star is surrounded by a white outline of a 12-pointed star. The Juneteenth flag is often displayed with the United States flag to symbolize that slavery is illegal.

In Texas and some other southern states, the traditional drink on Juneteenth is Big Red soda. This variety of cream soda is a sweet, soft drink flavored with orange and lemon oils and vanilla. It is available in different flavors and with or without caffeine and sugar.

Juneteenth Observances

Related holiday

• National Freedom Day–Monday, February 1, 2010

Other holidays in June 2010 in United States

• Statehood Day (Tuesday, June 1, 2010)
• Corpus Christi (Thursday, June 3, 2010)
• Jefferson Davis Birthday (Thursday, June 3, 2010)
• International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (Friday, June 4, 2010)
• World Environment Day (Saturday, June 5, 2010)
• Jefferson Davis Birthday (Monday, June 7, 2010)
• Kamehameha Day (Friday, June 11, 2010)
• Flag Day (Monday, June 14, 2010)
• Bunker Hill Day (Thursday, June 17, 2010)
• World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (Thursday, June 17, 2010)
• World Refugee Day (Sunday, June 20, 2010)
• West Virginia Day (Sunday, June 20, 2010)
• Father's Day (Sunday, June 20, 2010)
• June Solstice (Monday, June 21, 2010)
• West Virginia Day (Monday, June 21, 2010)
• Public Service Day (Wednesday, June 23, 2010)
• International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (Saturday, June 26, 2010)
• International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (Saturday, June 26, 2010)

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