Juneteenth is an ‘example of failed communication’: Rep. Clyburn
- Juneteenth marks the official end of slavery in the U.S.
- June 19 became a federal holiday in 2021
- Rep. Clyburn discusses the meaning behind the holiday
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(NewsNation) — Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., says Juneteenth is demonstrative of what happens when people fail to communicate.”
“The Emancipation Proclamations were written in 1862 and was supposed to be effective in 1863,” Clyburn said Wednesday night on “CUOMO.” “Yet, it was June 19, two and a half years later in 1865, when the people of Galveston, Texas, were communicated with.”
The Juneteenth holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, and Wednesday also marks 60 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate.
The occasion serves as a reminder that many of the rights afforded to Black Americans were not realized when the last slaves were freed, and that the struggle for complete freedom of all citizens is ongoing.
“As we go through life, especially politically, we should remember, it is very important to communicate. Talk, listen, and see if you can find common ground. You won’t find it otherwise,” Clyburn added.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth has been recognized as a federal holiday since 2021, when President Joe Biden officially added the first national holiday since Martin Luther King. Jr. Day became a national holiday in 1983.
Biden signed the measure into law after the U.S. Senate passed the bill unanimously; it had previously passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 415-14 vote.
Also known as “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day,” Juneteenth commemorates the day that Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, a U.S. Army officer and Union general during the Civil War, formally announced the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865.
“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,” Granger said that day.
The order was announced in Galveston, Texas, the last of the U.S. states to receive word that all slaves were freed, which came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Granger’s proclamation came more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia, bringing the major conflicts of the Civil War to a close.
NewsNation’s Jeff Arnold contributed to this report.