Image: Emancipation Day Celebration band, June 19, 1900. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
Children’s Books
Alliah L. Agostini and Sawyer Cloud: The Juneteenth Story: Celebrating the End of Slavery in the United States.
Floyd Cooper: Juneteenth for Mazie.
Angela Johnson & E.B. Lewis: All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom Hardcover.
Books
Annete Gordon Reed: On Juneteenth.
Francis Edward Abernethy, Patrick B. Mullen, & Alan B. Govenar (editors): Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African-American Folklore.
Articles
Keisha Blain:
- Juneteenth, Reparations and African-American History. (Interview).
- North Carolina plantation’s Juneteenth event underscores South’s historical whitewashing: The plan to center a Juneteenth event around so-called “displaced white refugees” is part of a larger effort to distort narratives about slavery.
- Juneteenth is an opportunity for America to reckon with its racial wealth gap: If businesses are going to celebrate Juneteenth, we need to talk openly about the persistent massive wealth gap between Black and white Americans.
- There’s no better time than Juneteenth to demand reparations for African Americans.
Jamelle Bouie: Why Juneteenth Matters: It was black Americans who delivered on Lincoln’s promise of “a new birth of freedom.”
Rebecca Carroll: Six Black Women on the Meaning of Juneteenth.
N. Jamiyla Chisholm: The Grandmother of Juneteenth on What the Holiday Means to Her: Activist, Ms. Opal Lee, talks to Colorlines about the significance of Juneteenth and why its history should never be forgotten.
Alma Clark, Betty Kimble, & Danielle Phillips-Cunningham:
- Juneteenth started in Texas. So did this Black town. Whites destroyed it. Part 1: How formerly enslaved people created a community of their own.
- White racism brought down a Black community. Will there be reparations? Part 2: Groundless panic about White women’s safety razed a town.
Jacey Fortin: The 1865 Handwritten Order Marking Juneteenth Has Been Found.
Annette Gordon-Reed: Growing Up with Juneteenth.
Endia Hayes: Ruminations on Juneteenth: Red as a Living Archive.
Tera W. Hunter: Juneteenth And National New Beginnings.
Kellie Carter Jackson:
- Black Joy—Not Corporate Acknowledgment—Is the Heart of Juneteenth: Companies and state governments are finally recognizing Emancipation Day as an official holiday, but black Americans have honored its significance all along.
- What the Push to Celebrate Juneteenth Conceals: The recent effort to make the anniversary a federal holiday is undermined by the simultaneous attack on critical race theory and curricula focused on the enduring legacy of slavery.
James Jones III: The Problem of White-Washing Juneteenth.
Peniel E. Joseph:
- Having Juneteenth as a national holiday offers possibilities Americans can’t ignore.
- Juneteenth, as much as the Fourth of July, is America’s true birthday.
Bitter Kali: Freedom is a Horse: For Juneteenth, a celebration of the liberation and escape that Black Americans found on horses.
Ibram X Kendi: The Juneteenth Mixtape. (podcast).
Tiya Miles: As Juneteenth Goes National, We Must Preserve the Local.
New York Historical Society (video): Celebrating Juneteenth: The Legacy of Frederick Douglass.
New York Times roundup of articles: Freedom Is In The Claiming.
NPR: What Is Juneteenth? Historians Explain The Holiday’s Importance.
C. Brandon Ogbunu: Why Juneteenth Went Viral: The George Floyd protests have brought the holiday to the foreground. May it be a day of reflection and reckoning.
Giuliana Perrone: Juneteenth and the Broader Black Freedom Struggle.
Benji de la Piedra: Ralph Ellison’s Juneteenth and Black Literary History.
Clint Smith: Celebrating Juneteenth in Galveston.
Denise Oliver Velez: Juneteenth and the Texas memorial to Black history.
The Washington Post: Juneteenth. (Interactive visual article.)
Olivia B. Waxman: When Did Slavery Really End in the U.S.? The Complicated History of Juneteenth.