this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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Before the 13th amendment, Lincoln formally ended slavery in the Union with the Emancipation Proclamation.
But even before that, from 1861, the Union Army made it a policy to seize slaves that it captured as contraband (or prize) of war, and then effectively emancipate then.
In general, even after the emancipation proclamation, slaves did not get actual freedom until the Union forces reached them.
So it was a complicated and messy process.
I definitely think Juneteenth fits best as the final application of that proclamation. Although it's slightly incongruous with July 4th celebrating the Declaration of Independence (rather than the end of the war), I think what distinguishes them is who declared the independence: the oppressed or the oppressor.
Independence Day celebrates the oppressed declaring their freedom and then later fighting to win it. An EP day would celebrate the oppressor declaring the freedom of the oppressed, so it seems less like it'd be celebrating black freedom and more like "wow guys look at what a good thing we did". I'd imagine the EP falling on January 1st does its viability as a holiday no favors either.