How I Will Celebrate Juneteenth

Like many Americans, I only discovered the significance of Juneteenth within the last decade—my public-school education never mentioned it. More than merely a day off, its designation as our newest federal holiday presents Christ-followers with an ideal opportunity to engage, learn, and celebrate through a Biblical worldview. Though I don’t have family or school traditions to lean on, I see this as a vital moment to grow, especially learning from my friends, neighbors, and coworkers who hold it dear. Emancipation was an extraordinary event, one that deserves both jubilant celebration and sober lament, given how it was delayed, suppressed, and downplayed for so long.

Juneteenth (June 19) became significant in 1865, when enslaved persons in Texas were informed of their freedom after the arrival of Major General Gordon Granger in Galveston, TX on June 19. The Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln was actually enacted on January 1, 1863, but this news was not widely disseminated in Texas until the end of the Civil War. Imagine the moment when these Union troops arrived and announced this news!

I recognize that Christians played a pivotal role in both advancing and (sadly) opposing emancipation, and there are lessons for me in that duality. In my own family history, we’ve recently learned the shameful reality that some ancestors engaged in horrific abuses—one even immigrating to this country because of the opportunity our young nation offered to exploit other humans for agricultural work. Yet, despite that darkness, other ancestors acted with the express purpose to advance opportunity for those whom their ancestors would have oppressed based on their race. In fact, my maternal grandmother lost her life for that cause in missions long before my birth. My paternal grandfather was both kidnapped and rewarded for his Africa missions work which crossed racial boundaries.

In this mess of my own ancestry, grace is displayed through the Emancipation Proclamation. Two years ago, we discovered a copy of a presidential pardon from President Andrew Johnson to my great-great-great-grandfather, a Confederate colonel, requiring him to free his enslaved persons and pledge to never own slaves again. We have no record of how he felt about this, but his signed agreement spared him the punishment of treason and dramatically redirected the lives of those he formerly enslaved. 

I wonder how promptly and happily Emancipation Day played out on his Virginia farm—both on the day and in the years that followed. I wish we knew the identities of the emancipated, and how they would have celebrated. In 1865, my great-great-great-grandfather received forgiveness; others received liberation. And a change of law enabled the future equality and human connection that fuel our culture today.

While it’s tempting to turn these thoughts into modern political postures, I know that if we keep our focus on Christ, our ultimate hope, we can use this history—both tragic and redemptive—to see our neighbors more clearly, learn to love sacrificially, and cultivate soft, teachable hearts. I should also consider if I ever permit today’s cultural norms to taint my Christianity, like how slavery tainted the Christianity of many in our nation’s history.

While holding my ultimate citizenship in the eternal kingdom of Jesus, might it be my patriotic duty to know and weigh our nation’s checkered history? Might this form part of my celebration of our “semi-quincentennial”? In the United States’ 250th year, our union is still not perfect, but perhaps we are better than before. This I know: because of Juneteenth, July 4th is a truer Independence Day than it was in 1776.

I am grateful for the progress our nation has made and am challenged to be part of its betterment today. Hope Church is a terrific place to have these conversations and engage together to live The LIFE, celebrating Our Eternal Emancipator. Happy Juneteenth.