By Matthew Cimitile, University Communications and Marketing
Juneteenth has become the most well-known celebration for the ending of slavery in
the United States and viewed by some as America’s second Independence Day. But the
history of this important celebration is complex and often misunderstood.
Juneteenth isn’t a straightforward story of emancipation, nor did it necessarily improve
conditions for many African Americans the next day or even the next decade, according
to Erin Stewart Mauldin, the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History at USF
St. Petersburg and an expert on the Civil War and Reconstruction.
“Juneteenth is neither the beginning nor the end of something,” Mauldin said. “The
end of the Civil War and the ending of slavery didn’t happen overnight and was a lot
more like a jagged edge than a clean cut.”
Dating back to 1865, the holiday commemorates the day when 250,000 slaves in the state
of Texas, which became the last bastion for slavery during the final days of the Civil
War, were declared free by the U.S. Army.
As soon as the following year, local festivities were organized in African American
communities to celebrate and remember the significance of that day, June 19. The celebrations
continued year after year.
In the 20th century, as African Americans from Texas and neighboring states spread
throughout the country, so too did Juneteenth celebrations. In 1980, Texas became
the first to make it a state holiday. Shortly thereafter, other states followed suit,
along with organizations and businesses across the nation hosting events and educational
opportunities dedicated to commemorating the significance of this day.
In 2021, the day became a national holiday.
Emancipation & the fight for justice
Some slaves in the Confederate states were technically freed as early as January 1,
1863, the date when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln and went into effect. The proclamation was
only as good as the Union army’s enforcement of it (and didn’t pertain to slaves in
the Union border states of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri), meaning slavery
ended in a region when the army occupied the territory.
Even after General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army, surrendered at
Appomattox on April 9, 1865, an event generally regarded as the end of the Civil War,
battles, skirmishes and slavery continued. The last Confederate holdouts moved further
away from the approaching Union army as possible, ending up in Texas.
“When Lee surrendered at Appomattox, it’s not over. Major military campaigns went
through June and people continue to fight for years,” Mauldin explained. “Depending
on how isolated the enslaved were from the U.S. army or networks of information or
places they could escape to, bondage did not end in 1865.”
From there, the story becomes even more complicated. Now free, the formerly enslaved
had no wealth, no property and few places to turn. The best solution for many was
staying where they were, working for former slave owners and fighting to ensure they
would now get paid in a new arrangement of employer and hired labor.
“Plantation owners didn’t want to pay their former slaves at all and the former Confederate
states were more or less broke after the war, so they didn’t have money to even pay,”
Mauldin said. “Though slavery ends, the conditions for many change very little initially.”
Eventually contracts would become standardized among employers and labor and an economic
system of sharecropping developed. Laborers would work a plot of land for a share
of the crop or profits at the end of the year. Some would begin to amass goods and
property, enough to make their own decisions on what to plant, what livestock to buy
and even hire additional laborers to farm the land.
But many in this new economic system would amass debt, as the only way to receive
property and items to farm was to become indebted to landowners. The struggle for
freedom morphed into a struggle for economic independence.
“Freedom was not a straight line from the Emancipation Proclamation to Juneteenth
to the Civil Rights movement,” Mauldin said. “Individuals had to fight for every piece
of freedom they experienced and the struggle for justice that started long before
the war did not end with emancipation.”
The celebration of Juneteenth today is important because it helps initiate difficult
conversations and raises awareness about the country’s complicated and tragic history
of slavery, Mauldin said.
“It is immensely important to remember the difficulties of fighting and securing even
the smallest measures of freedom,” she said. “Juneteenth has become a symbol for emancipation
and provides a highly visible celebration that does get at these difficult conversations
about America’s history.”
Emancipation celebrations in Tampa Bay
The first celebration of emancipation in Tampa even precedes that of the first recorded
Juneteenth, based on research by Professor Mauldin.
On May 6, 1864, federal forces including Black soldiers of a colored regiment recaptured
Fort Brooke in Tampa from the Confederacy, liberating the enslaved in the city. The
following year, several Black farmers borrowed American flags from federal units still
stationed in the city and marched through Tampa to commemorate their freedom, according
to local newspaper accounts.
Since then, the Black community in Tampa would celebrate their Emancipation Day in
May, typically with a festival that included a community-wide picnic.
Across the bay in St. Petersburg, the first Black family didn’t settle in the city
until 1868. The first recorded celebrations in newspapers of emancipation weren’t
until the turn of the 20th century, and largely coincided with the ratification of
the 13th Amendment or when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, which occurred
on December 6 and January 1 respectively. St. Petersburg’s celebrations were typically
sponsored by local Black churches and civic organizations, featuring worship services,
marching bands, literary programs and speeches by prominent guest speakers.
As they evolved, Emancipation Day celebrations in Tampa Bay would reflect the social
and political concerns of Black residents of the time. When communities would celebrate
those festivities reflected the local history of when emancipation occurred.
“Juneteenth is the national date we have chosen, but each city, county and state celebration
of emancipation differs because of when federal troops arrived or when hostilities
ceased and those enslaved were liberated,” Mauldin said.
General Order No. 3 from Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, freeing the slaves of Texas on
June 19, 1865 (known today as Juneteenth)
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the
Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality
of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the
connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired
labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work
for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military
posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
