Juneteenth Day (1 Viewer)

[Cranky Al]

Juneteenth flags flying celebrations, parades, BLM, Black History Month...…… 

Tearing down statues of slave owners, doing away with anything mainstream that might remind people of slavery, getting rid of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben (BTW obviously people wanting these gone don't know their history)

Wanting to talk about black history, not wanting to talk about ALL of it...…..This world is so confusing 

 

[H Jass]

Truly you are Cranky, Al.

 

[HellToupee]

This would make for a good national holiday. 

 

[IvanKaramazov]

This would make for a good national holiday. 

It's kind of a no-brainer.  The Civil War / abolition of slavery is rightly viewed a the single most significant event in US history other than independence, which of course already has a holiday.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

It seems obvious to me that we would be better off scrapping President's Day, Columbus Day, and MLK day and replacing them with national holidays on Juneteenth, election day, and super bowl Monday.

 

[sho nuff]

It seems obvious to me that we would be better off scrapping President's Day, Columbus Day, and MLK day and replacing them with national holidays on Juneteenth, election day, and super bowl Monday.

Yes...all of it yes.

 

[HellToupee]

It seems obvious to me that we would be better off scrapping President's Day, Columbus Day, and MLK day and replacing them with national holidays on Juneteenth, election day, and super bowl Monday.

This is still a plus 1 for fed holidays. Columbus Day sits in a good spot , as far as the federal holiday calendar goes. I’d be onboard with this if we moved up election day to around where Columbus Day falls

 

[HellToupee]

Did anyone learn about Juneteenth in school? I never did neither did my kids  . Never heard of it . I find that amazing . 

 

[The Commish]

Did anyone learn about Juneteenth in school? I never did neither did my kids  . Never heard of it . I find that amazing . 

You mean you didn't learn about the abolition of slavery or you didn't know that it was labeled "Juneteenth"?  I grew up in NC and it was part of our history classes.

 

[HellToupee]

You mean you didn't learn about the abolition of slavery or you didn't know that it was labeled "Juneteenth"?  I grew up in NC and it was part of our history classes.

The name Juneteent. Allthat was taught was the slave abolition happened , not the way it actually went down. 

 

[The Commish]

The name Juneteent. Allthat was taught was the slave abolition happened , not the way it actually went down. 

huh...interesting

 

[Doug B]

Did anyone learn about Juneteenth in school? I never did neither did my kids  . Never heard of it . I find that amazing . 

Not at all. I was curious about that so I read the Wikipedia article on Juneteenth.

Short version: For reasons I didn't quite understand, Juneteenth diminished as an explicit celebration throughout the 20th century and especially after WWII. Vestiges remained, commonly in the form of family reunions and block parties. The Wikipedia article that a focus on civil rights initiatives throughout the 1950s-1970s kept Juneteenth on the cultural back burner as something of an erstwhile old-fashioned celebration.

After that ... if you ask 'Where was Juneteenth during the 1980s, 1990s, etc.?' I couldn't tell you. It does seem to me that there has been an awakening of interest in late-19th century African-American history among African-Americans themselves in the last decade or so.

Thinking back upon it ... Juneteenth was absent from so much African-American-related broadcast media of the 1970s-1990s ... stuff a lot of us grew up on. And I mean socially-conscious, forward-facing stuff. Sanford and Son. Good Times. The Jeffersons. The Cosby Show. 227. A Different World. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The Steve Harvey Show. Kenan and Kel. Many others. Not a single mention of Juneteenth.

 

[Doug B]

You mean you didn't learn about the abolition of slavery or you didn't know that it was labeled "Juneteenth"?  I grew up in NC and it was part of our history classes.

Completely unbroached in Louisiana public schools in the late-1970s to the late-1980s. At least in the ones I went to.

EDIT: And roughly 1/3 of my teachers were African-American.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I'm 47 and I don't think I ever heard the term Juneteenth until a few weeks ago.  Not denying its existence or importance, just chiming in that in my experience it hasn't enjoyed the kind of cultural salience that it deserves.  

 

[Doug B]

I'm 47 and I don't think I ever heard the term Juneteenth until a few weeks ago.

I have vague memories of earlier "jokey" references to Juneteenth, but an October 2017 episode of Blackish is where I first learned of the actual meaning of the day.

The last two lines of the linked article:

This month, governors of Virginia and New York even proposed making Juneteenth a paid holiday for state employees while big companies, including Nike, Target and Twitter have recognized it as a paid company holiday.

Thus far, efforts to make Juneteenth a national holiday have come up short.

Does anyone else remember that Martin Luther King Day faced some resistance to becoming a national holiday? I remember around 1982 or 1983 that there was a well-promoted television movie (or miniseries?) about MLK's life and that this broadcast helped spur the final push needed to get MLK Day recognized federally.

EDIT: The mini-series I'm thinking of (King) was first broadcast in 1978. I think I am conflating the memories of this mini-series (probably a re-broadcast in syndication) with the 1986 PBS documentary In Remembrance of Martin, which was broadcast on the first federally-recognized MLK Day holiday. I know as of that 1986 broadcast, several states were still holdouts and that is probably the resistance I am remembering.

 

[whoknew]

Did anyone learn about Juneteenth in school? I never did neither did my kids  . Never heard of it . I find that amazing . 

One of the things I've talked about with friends I grew up with is how Euro-centric our history was in school. I'm 46 and growing up, we learned almost nothing about African or Asian history. We learned some South American - but only to the extent native tribes migrated down. 

Its really a failure of my education. Not sure if others had a similar experience.

 

[Doug B]

One of the things I've talked about with friends I grew up with is how Euro-centric our history was in school. I'm 46 and growing up, we learned almost nothing about African or Asian history. We learned some South American - but only to the extent native tribes migrated down. 

Its really a failure of my education. Not sure if others had a similar experience.

So far as I know, this is darn near universal for American kids brought up in the 1970s-80s. Probably still close to 100% true.

 

[Ilov80s]

One of the things I've talked about with friends I grew up with is how Euro-centric our history was in school. I'm 46 and growing up, we learned almost nothing about African or Asian history. We learned some South American - but only to the extent native tribes migrated down. 

Its really a failure of my education. Not sure if others had a similar experience.

That’s how all the curriculums are designed. It’s not the teachers faults ( at least today) but the larger political system that tells teachers what to teach. In my experience, women are glossed over even more than black history. The truth is we need more history classes period. It should be 4 years in high school, not the usual 2 (1 US and 1 World). I will say that one thing I’ve noticed is that unless the teacher is really dynamic, most students don’t give a #### about history and so often things are taught but nobody is paying attention. We as a county suck when it comes to history.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

It seems obvious to me that we would be better off scrapping President's Day, Columbus Day, and MLK day and replacing them with national holidays on Juneteenth, election day, and super bowl Monday.

I am in favor of swapping Memorial Day and Labor Day since I always get them confused anyway.

 

[dgreen]

I'm 47 and I don't think I ever heard the term Juneteenth until a few weeks ago.  Not denying its existence or importance, just chiming in that in my experience it hasn't enjoyed the kind of cultural salience that it deserves.  

I've noticed it on my iPhone calendar for of a few years but never bothered to look into what it is. The name doesn't really help. Doesn't sound like a "real" thing. I just assumed it was some silly thing like "May the 4th be with you" or "Pi Day" or something like that. I guess I could have put 2 seconds of thought into it and concluded that it wouldn't be automatically in my iPhone if it was just something silly like that, but I never did.

 

[dgreen]

I am in favor of swapping Memorial Day and Labor Day since I always get them confused anyway.

But then we wouldn't know when Summer unofficially begins and ends. 

 

[BobbyLayne]

It seems obvious to me that we would be better off scrapping President's Day, Columbus Day, and MLK day and replacing them with national holidays on Juneteenth, election day, and super bowl Monday.

I’d like to contribute to your election campaign Ivan.

 

[BobbyLayne]

I'm 47 and I don't think I ever heard the term Juneteenth until a few weeks ago.  Not denying its existence or importance, just chiming in that in my experience it hasn't enjoyed the kind of cultural salience that it deserves.  

58 and avid student of all things history but especially ACW & Reconstruction. Learned of Juneteenth and the Tulsa Black Wall Street riot only in the last 10-12 years.

 

[Mystery Achiever]

I just heard the term when I came back to Philly because they started an annual parade a few years ago. (Not this year)

And "Juneteenth Day" is like calling it  "4th of July Day."  

 

[need2know]

I'm 47 and I don't think I ever heard the term Juneteenth until a few weeks ago.  Not denying its existence or importance, just chiming in that in my experience it hasn't enjoyed the kind of cultural salience that it deserves.  

I'm 39, this is the first time I have ever heard the term.  

 

[ShamrockPride]

Did anyone learn about Juneteenth in school? I never did neither did my kids  . Never heard of it . I find that amazing . 

NOT ONCE. I literally did not know it even existed until probably about a year ago when I was flipping thru channels one night and landed on an episode of Black-ish about it.

 

[johnnycakes]

Did anyone learn about Juneteenth in school? I never did neither did my kids  . Never heard of it . I find that amazing . 

I didn't know Juneteenth was a thing until today.  

 

[Gachi]

Juneteenth is a Texas thing, that’s probably why you guys haven’t heard about it. 

June 19th, 1865 is when the news reached the over 250,000 enslaved individuals in Texas that slavery was over. 

There are celebrations and parades held yearly in Texas. 
 

 

[BobbyLayne]

Juneteenth is a Texas thing, that’s probably why you guys haven’t heard about it. 

June 19th, 1865 is when the news reached the over 250,000 enslaved individuals in Texas that slavery was over. 

There are celebrations and parades held yearly in Texas. 
 

Thanks for the history lesson. I was under the. Impression it was the General Order issued by Brig Gen Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865. Since, ya know, the 13th Amendment wasn’t ratified until December 1865.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I've noticed it on my iPhone calendar for of a few years but never bothered to look into what it is. The name doesn't really help. Doesn't sound like a "real" thing. I just assumed it was some silly thing like "May the 4th be with you" or "Pi Day" or something like that. I guess I could have put 2 seconds of thought into it and concluded that it wouldn't be automatically in my iPhone if it was just something silly like that, but I never did.

Yep last year was the first time I ever heard of it because it popped up on my calendar 

 

[gianmarco]

It's kind of a no-brainer.  The Civil War / abolition of slavery is rightly viewed a the single most significant event in US history other than independence, which of course already has a holiday.

Not to mention that Independence Day isn't even when all citizens became free. That would be Juneteenth. 

 

[jon_mx]

If they make it a holiday we can all go to the bar and get drunk, i am all in.  We need more of those.  Cinco de Mayo and St. Patricks day need company.  

 

[Gachi]

Thanks for the history lesson. I was under the. Impression it was the General Order issued by Brig Gen Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865. Since, ya know, the 13th Amendment wasn’t ratified until December 1865.

That’s what I meant, the union troops arrived and what not. I don’t know the specifics. 

 

[jon_mx]

This could be bigger than Kaeanzaa.