The Spirit of Juneteenth

Three years ago, when Congress declared Juneteenth a federal holiday, Americans across every race and demographic felt hopeful that the effort would serve as a way to reconcile the past by not letting our country forget the significance of June 19th. Recognizing the holiday, which exemplifies the strength, perseverance and resilience of African Americans, was long overdue.

Juneteenth represents a significant milestone in American history. It commemorates the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of slavery, nearly two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This day has also become known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and it symbolizes the liberation of African Americans from the bonds of slavery. It also serves as a powerful reminder of the ongoing journey toward equality and justice, which we are still in pursuit of today.

For Blacks in America, Juneteenth serves as an acknowledgement that after centuries of injustice, oppression, and inequality, our country’s leaders are once again taking steps to recognize the Black experience as an integral part of the American one. For hundreds of years, African Americans had been celebrating the holiday, but now there has been an awakening of the need to broadly communicate, honor and raise awareness about Juneteenth nationally so that everyone can learn the true journey to freedom Blacks have endured.

This Juneteenth, however, arrives at a fraught moment for our country, a time when Black history is once again a battle in the seemingly implacable culture wars. State governments are increasingly policing, and in some cases, erasing what educators can teach students about any piece of history that outlines the plight, struggle and inequities suffered by Black Americans and the ultimate perseverance, endurance and strength that contributed to major achievements and accomplishments within this community. The mere discussion of race relations has become another opportunity to stir division, rather than one to educate, illuminate, reflect and learn.

Bridging Cultural Gaps

Despite this, the celebration of Juneteenth is still seen as a sign of hope and progress. I’m optimistic about our ability to move forward and find common understanding as a nation. One of the ways our country has bridged cultural gaps and found common understanding is through the enduring power of the arts, and specifically Black African American artists. They have celebrated, uplifted and acknowledged the power, purpose and presence that African Americans have had on shaping our country in transformative ways.

For hundreds of years African American culture has shaped the fabric of America’s taste in art, music, and literature, among other forms. The power of Black art in its ability to make us reconsider our point of view has:

— Renewed our capacity to look at the world, with empathy.

— Pushed Americans to step outside the narrow confines of our own personal experiences.

— Driven cultural transformation — about liberation, freedom, and equality.

— Helped others understand, albeit briefly, what America looks like through the eyes of Black people — from slavery to emancipation, from Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement, from the Black Power movement to Black Lives Matter movement and highlights the countless Black pioneers in every field that has made America the incredible country it is today.

Since the first Juneteenth celebration, Black Americans artists have made significant contributions creating the beauty and majesty of America and pushed it to live up to its ideals. These artists have held a mirror up to our society and expanded our capacity to see one another as equal and have been the ones who have had the most long-standing impact and affected Americans across every race, color, creed and background. These icons, trailblazers and living truth-tellers have earned the respect and reverence of all Americans and brought to life the essence of the Black experience in America and how we can use it to speak to the universal desire for respect, equality, belonging, and justice for all.

Black Experience Revealed

One of the most profound literary artists, James Baldwin, epitomizes this desire. At times, Baldwin spoke about the contradictions of being an African American. An openly gay, Black intellectual who came of age when living that truth was an act of radical rebellion, Baldwin sought out refuge by moving to the south of France to ironically experience the American dream on French soil and to pursue his art freely. But the ills and work to fight for equality during the Civil Rights Movement brought him back to America to lend his brilliant voice to the struggle against systemic inequities.

Some criticized Baldwin for his time “in the wilderness,” far away from the front lines of the struggle. But his unique perspective gave new depth to his critique of how disconnected America’s ideals had become from the Black experience. And he made that critique in a voice that could have only been his. As he put it in1972: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’

That was true then, and it’s true today for Gen Z Amanda Gorman, 22, who is the youngest poet to ever speak at a Presidential inauguration. On that historic day in 2021, she stood in front of the U.S. Capitol, speaking in dazzling sentences. Gorman brought a clarity beyond her years and became an American hero, offering a vision of truth and healing at a time when division and lies were tearing our country apart.

“If we’re to live up to our own time,” she declared, “then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare. It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.”

Gorman’s voice reminds us of the possibilities of a generation who sees that which we do not. Like no generation before them, they have been exposed to new ideas and new ways of thinking and engaging in a global world. Gorman and others like her have been able to advance a vision of our country beyond the status quo but one that sees, centers and gives voice to everyone.

My hope for Juneteenth is that it continues to spotlight and remind every American of the myriad of ways Black Americans have positively impacted our country culturally, socially and politically. The spirit of Juneteenth demonstrates how the Black experience symbolizes the wonder and also the complexity of the American dream through the perseverance, power and achievements of a people that still continues to pursue equality, justice and belonging for all.