‘Free State of Florida’ should embrace holiday
Enjoy Juneteenth, the latest celebration to join New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day and Christmas Day as a date-specific federal holiday. While relishing time away from work is to be enjoyed, it’s important to appreciate the rich history and significance behind the holiday.
Juneteenth celebrates freedom. It marks the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union troops informed slaves in Texas that they finally had been set free, under the Emancipation Proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln had signed more than two years earlier. The proclamation officially ended slavery in 10 southern, Confederate states, including Florida. Note that Florida still doesn’t recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday but that shouldn’t diminish its significance.
The holiday deserves recognition. Florida apparently thought so, long before June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed legislation making what was a popular commemoration into a federal holiday. Florida was one of the first states outside of Texas to recognize Juneteenth in 1991 as a day of observance. Later efforts to make the observance a state holiday were blocked in part due to the state’s own version of Juneteenth — Florida Emancipation Day, recalling the day in 1865 when a Union general read the Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee.
In a state now known for its disdain rather than appreciation of American history, it would behoove Floridians to cherish and celebrate what many Americans have come to understand as America’s Second Independence Day.”
Florida has its own version of ‘Juneteenth’
Truth is, Juneteenth has been part and parcel of American history for some time now. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 but making it a reality in the old Confederacy took time. The news didn’t get to Texas until 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston to announce that the more than 200,000 slaves in the state had been freed by executive decree.
In Florida, that announcement of freedom occurred in Tallahassee on May 20, 1865. For the estimated 60,000 slaves in the state, the arrival of Major Gen. Edward McCook and the news of emancipation couldn’t come soon enough. The annual celebrations that followed throughout Florida’s Black communities came in the form of parades, picnics, seminars and community events. Florida’s “Juneteenth” may now be overshadowed by the federal holiday. However, Florida Emancipation Day remains a part of Florida history and shouldn’t be forgotten.
It’s clear that Juneteenth provides an opportunity for all Floridians to learn more about their state and nation following the Civil War. Unfortunately, there’s no specific mention of Florida Emancipation Day or Juneteenth in the Florida Sunshine State Standards, which is the basic curriculum for all public schools in the state. It’s not a part of the AP United States History course, the nation’s most advanced history course for high school students.
Such a fix is necessary but unlikely anytime soon, given the so-called ‘Free State of Florida’s’ misplaced notion it must protect public school students from the hard truths of American history. The state’s Stop Woke Act bans school instruction and employment training that suggests that a person is either oppressed or privileged because of their race, sex or national origin. A federal lawsuit has resulted in a preliminary injunction against the law as an appellate panel figures out its constitutionality.
The reality remains that many Black residents in Florida and much of the United States see the traditional Fourth of July Independence Day holiday through a different lens. For 246 years, slavery was both accepted custom and law of the land, until a brutal war between the states ended with both the Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Still, a stronger measure of freedom wouldn’t come for another 100 years, thanks to legal racial segregation in Jim Crow laws and Black codes.
It’s almost too easy to forget that our state and nation’s great strength is its diversity. The varied backgrounds, cultures and histories of our residents are building blocks for a far better society than one undermined by narrow minds and misinformation. Juneteenth reminds us of the agonies of slavery, of the gains that have been made, and of the work that remains to be done. This American holiday that should be celebrated here, not shunned.