Juneteenth - également connu sous les noms de Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day et Emancipation Day - est la plus ancienne commémoration nationale de la fin de l'esclavage aux États-Unis.

Datant de 1865, le Juneteenth (abréviation de "June Nineteenth") marque le jour où les troupes fédérales sont arrivées à Galveston, au Texas, avec la nouvelle de la fin de la guerre, pour prendre le contrôle de l'État et faire en sorte que tous les esclaves soient libérés. L'arrivée des troupes a eu lieu deux ans et demi après la signature de la proclamation d'émancipation, qui était devenue officielle le 1er janvier 1863. 

En 1979, le Texas est devenu le premier État à faire du 19 juin un jour férié officiel. Aujourd'hui, 47 États reconnaissent le dix-neuvième comme un jour férié fédéral selon proclamation du Président Joe Biden en juin 2021. Ces dernières années, le mouvement Black Lives Matter a jeté un nouvel éclairage sur les luttes modernes pour les droits civiques et a permis d'attirer davantage l'attention sur cette fête importante.

 

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Juneteenth – also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day – is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

Dating back to 1865, Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”), marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the war had ended, to take control of the state, and to ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the order that officially ended slavery on January 1, 1863. 

It wasn't until 1979 that Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday. Today, 47 states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday, as as proclaimed by President Joe Biden in June 2021.The Black Lives Matter movement over the past few years has shed new light on the modern Civil Rights struggles and is helping to gain greater attention for this important historical period and the importance of a US national holiday.

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Ressources pour en savoir plus | Resources to learn more

 

• NAAMHC: https://nmaahc.si.edu/events/juneteenth 
• “What is Juneteenth?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2HAVuld0_0 
• "Why all Americans should honor Juneteenth”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FX-Iisvrj8 

• Juneteenth entry on BlackPast: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/juneteenth-birth-african-american-holiday-2/ 
• NYT (2021): https://www.nytimes.com/article/juneteenth-day-celebration.html 
• And this entry by Henry Louis Gates Jr.: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-juneteenth/ 
• Juneteenth in D.C. 2022: https://www.juneteenthdc.org
• "Teaching Juneteenth", Learning for Justice: https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/teaching-juneteenth 
• “Reflecting on Juneteenth”, Facing History and Ourselves: https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/reflecting-on-juneteenth 
• Juneteenth.com: https://juneteenth.com 
• “On Teaching Juneteenth”, AFT-Share My Lesson: https://sharemylesson.com/blog/teaching-juneteenth and their collection of resources: https://sharemylesson.com/collections/teaching-juneteenth
• Black Texas A&M athletes share what Juneteenth means to them (from 2020) : WATCH NOW: Juneteenth: In Our Own Words | Aggie Sports | theeagle.com

 

Special thanks to our History-Geography Teacher Sandra Percy for her contribution to this collection. We will continue adding resources, so if there is a subject you would like to learn more about or if you have any suggestions, please contact percys@rochambeau.org.