Resources to Learn About Juneteenth
We are wishing all a meaningful and happy Juneteenth. In that spirit, we are sharing a message sent out last night to the Texas Law community with links and resources for the Juneteenth holiday. It came from Professor Barbara Bintliff, Joseph C. Hutcheson Professor in Law and Director of the Tarlton Law Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research, and provides the following resources to aid in learning about, and taking action on, the significance of Juneteenth.
“(Juneteenth) is a commemoration that has special meaning in Texas as it marks the day in 1865 when Union Army General Gordon Granger, landing in Galveston with sufficient troops to exert control over Texas, read the federal government’s orders proclaiming all enslaved persons were free,” Prof. Bintliff wrote. “It is now marked in almost every state. Texas Senator John Cornyn has introduced a bill to make Juneteenth a national holiday, adding support to the long-standing efforts of Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston to recognize the historical significance of the date.”
Below you can find several general articles and opinion pieces presenting information about different aspects of the commemoration:
To gain a bit fuller understanding of the significance of the day, you can read A Relatively Unknown Holiday and Its Significance: Celebrating Juneteenth.
To delve into the subject with an in-depth account, William Klingaman’s Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 1861-1865 (Viking, 2001) demonstrates the complexity of the pressures brought to bear on President Lincoln, both politically and morally.
For views from several members of the UT community: Juneteenth: Black Americans’ True Independence Day.
Happy Juneteenth, and hook ’em!