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Celia Walker, in the Bitter Southerner: “Why Do We Celebrate Juneteenth?”:
Now, if you know American history, to any degree, you know that Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became official on Jan. 1, 1863. So, yes, Texas did not receive the news until two and a half years later, and even then, there was much resistance. According to many accounts, Texas was the farthest west of the Confederate states, and, as records note, many slave holders from neighboring Southern states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, and other areas east began migrating to Texas as early as 1862 to escape the Union Army’s reach. In fact, by the time General Granger dispatched Order No. 3, two critical things had happened: Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated in April and Texas’ slave population had more than doubled to 250,000. In other words, the Lone Star State had, in essence, become a sort of haven for slave owners to viciously hold on to their “property” and free labor system which, by law, was now illegal. But who was watching? Virtually no one.
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The year following Roots, I wasn’t so eager to participate in the Juneteenth turn up. The rebel in me would emerge, the feelings were more visceral. So you’re telling me that we found out two years after everyone else? Shouldn’t we be protesting? Shouldn’t we be demanding our reparations? Why are we partying?
Interestingly, I wasn’t alone in my newfound Black-pride-anti-Juneteenth plight. Many African Americans in the ’50s and ’60s shared a similar sentiment, directing their energy toward the Civil Rights movement, education, and equal rights. Black people in America were focusing on the future rather than remembering the past. Juneteenth celebrations began to decline. By the 1970s, Black power movements across the country allowed a resurgence of the popularity of the holiday, and by 1979, Texas state legislator Al Edwards introduced a bill to make Juneteenth a Texas state holiday. The first state-approved celebration took place in 1980. As a result of this accomplishment, Edwards is often referred to as “the father of Juneteenth.”
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When I spoke with the renowned African American historian Dr. Harry Robinson Jr, President and CEO of the Dallas African American Museum, I asked him whether Juneteenth should be celebrated or protested. Robinson has hosted the Texas Black Invitational Rodeo for some 31 years in honor of Juneteenth. Robinson was vehemently clear, his facial expression morphing into a sharpened stare, “We as a people should never pass up the opportunity to celebrate freedom, any type of freedom, regardless of the circumstance. To be free from bondage, whether it’s slavery, a hospital, release from prison or otherwise, it is to be free.” He went on, “Do you really believe the slave population in Texas gave a damn about finding out two and half years later? I doubt it very seriously. I imagine that there was indeed a set of turbulent emotions, joy, confusion, and possibly fear, but their new reality of freedom was then, and now, cause for celebration. And just think, our people managed to succeed in spite of the obvious schemes and plots to extend the hold of dependence. People believe that slaves and former slaves were docile but there were uprisings long before Juneteenth in Texas. Black people were courageous and resilient and went on to build schools, churches, and communities as a result of their determination. Juneteenth should be a time for teaching our history, to unpack untold hidden stories, and share with our young, to honor the sacrifices and achievements of our pasts and to be inspired by the strength of our ancestors.”
Angela Ards, in Texas Monthly: “A Letter to My Fellow Black Texans About Juneteenth”:
Now that Juneteenth is a political pawn, not to mention a crass marketing tool (think of Walmart’s disastrous “Juneteenth ice cream”), those who have always found celebrating the holiday suspect—Why throw a parade to honor Black Texans being last to learn of slavery’s end?—may find it even more so. Gaining a national holiday that recognizes emancipation while the Supreme Court revisits voting rights, affirmative action, and due process decisions isn’t how freedom works. For those of us who cherish Juneteenth because our grandparents personally knew someone who rejoiced that day in 1865, the irony galls.
It takes walking the walk to make a symbol mean something. Opal Lee, the Fort Worth activist who, in 2016 at the age of 89, spent four months walking from her home to Washington, D.C., to bring Juneteenth to national attention, urges us to use the holiday to preserve our history. Few, for instance, know of the thousands of United States Colored Troops who joined General Gordon Granger in liberating Black Texas on June 19, 1865. Or of the Emancipation Days that preceded Juneteenth, such as April 16, 1862, in D.C.; August 8, 1863, in Tennessee; and May 20, 1865, in Florida. The ritual of telling and retelling our Black freedom story reminds us that emancipation is a process, and ours is unfinished.
From the text of Senate Bill 3429, introduced on December 10, 2025 by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto:
SEC. 3. FEE-FREE DAYS FOR FEDERAL RECREATIONAL LANDS AND WATERS.
Section 805(e) of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (16
U.S.C. 6804(e)) is amended by striking ``The Secretary may provide
for'' and inserting the following:
``(1) Fee-free days for federal recreational lands and
waters.--The Secretary shall provide for a free admission day
or use of Federal recreational lands and waters on the
following days each year:
``(A) The Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., the
third Monday in January.
``(B) The first day of National Park Week in April.
``(C) Juneteenth National Independence Day, June
19.
``(D) Great American Outdoors Day, August 4.
``(E) National Public Lands Day, the fourth
Saturday in September.
``(F) Veterans Day, November 11.
``(2) Additional authority for federal recreational lands
and waters.--In addition to the days required under paragraph
(1), the Secretary may provide for''.
To date, this bill to restore free national park admittance on MLK Day and Juneteenth has gone nowhere.
