Juneteenth 2022
By: Sam Barrett
Intro:
Happy Juneteenth 2022! It has only been a year since Juneteenth was finally declared a federal holiday. This shows how far we’ve come, and how much farther we need to go. Juneteenth holds so much meaning and there are many people today that are uneducated on its history.
History of Juneteenth:
On January 1st, 1863, as the United States approached its third year of the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed by President Abraham Lincoln. According to National Archives, “The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."” Although this granted many slaves freedom, there were still over 250,000 that suffered another two years before seeing freedom in western Confederate states like Texas. On June 19th, 1865 about 2,000 Union Troops made their way through Galveston Bay, Texas announcing that all slaves were free by executive decree. According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, this day was declared Juneteenth by the newly freed people of Texas. According to History.com, Juneteenth is the longest-running African American holiday, and, as stated previously, it did not become an official federal holiday until June 17th, 2021.
Statistics:
Juneteenth has been a part of American history for so long, yet it just became a federal holiday recently. This truly demonstrates how far we still have to go in the journey for equality and representation. Not only that, but the treatment of the black community in the last two years has been horrifying. However, in light of the Juneteenth celebration, we’d like to share some more positive statistics demonstrating how far we’ve really come. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce,
89.4% of African Americans, age 25 or older, have a high school diploma or higher as of 2020.
30.7% of the African American population, ages 16 and older, are working in management, business, science, and arts occupations as of 2019.
134, 567 businesses in the United States are black-owned as of 2019.
In 2009, only 22% of white Americans would agree that racism is a problem in our country. Now, 52% of white Americans state that racism is a huge problem in the United States.
Statistics like these bring a little bit of hope to communities and prove that we are slowly working towards positive change. However, there is still a long way to go, especially for women of color. According to Catalyst.org,
As of 2019, only 11.4% of black women have earned a bachelor’s degree, a 0.9% decrease from 2011-2012.
As of 2020, black women only make up 14.2% of all US management, business, and financial operation employees.
While white women held 32.6% of total leadership positions in the US in 2021, women of color held a much smaller share; only 4.4%.
We still have a long way to go to reach true equality for all. However, Juneteenth is a time to celebrate freedom and all that we have been able to accomplish since that day, so let’s be positive and show support to our local communities. If you want to show support visit some of these events happening all around Indiana throughout the rest of the month.
