LibGuides: Juneteenth: Home

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth, a combination of June and nineteen, is a holiday celebrating June 19th,1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out that they were free, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. Although the ratification of the 13th amendment in December later that year made slavery illegal, June 19th was when the last of the Confederate states were told of the proclamation.

On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, creating a federal holiday.

Learn more at:

www.juneteenth.com/history
www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/juneteenth-birth-african-american-holiday-2/
Read the original Emancipation Proclamation from the National Archives catalog
Juneteenth article by the Texas State Historical Association in the Handbook of Texas

OSU Library Resources

Juneteenth : a celebration of freedom by Charles A.Taylor
ISBN: 1558494073

Publication Date: 2002

Describes Juneteenth's origins and meaning as well as the ways it has been celebrated throughout its history, and presents related documents including the Emancipation Proclamation and the lyrics to "Lift Every Voice and Sing," known as the African-American national anthem.
I freed myself : African American self-emancipation in the Civil War era by David Williams
ISBN: 9781107016491

Publication Date: 2014

"African Americans' Struggle for Freedom in the Civil War Era For a century and a half, Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation has been the dominant narrative of African American freedom in the Civil War era. However, David Williams suggests that this portrayal marginalizes the role that African American slaves played in freeing themselves. At the Civil War's outset, Lincoln made clear his intent was to save the Union rather than free slaves - despite his personal distaste for slavery, he claimed no authority to interfere with the institution. By the second year of the war, though, when the Union army was in desperate need of black support, former slaves who escaped to Union lines struck a bargain: they would fight for the Union only if they were granted their freedom. Williams importantly demonstrates that freedom was not simply the absence of slavery but rather a dynamic process enacted by self-emancipated African American refugees, which compelled Lincoln to modify his war aims and place black freedom at the center of his wartime policies."
Forever free : the story of emancipation and Reconstruction by Eric Foner, Joshua Brown
Call Number: E668.F655 2006

ISBN: 0375702741

Publication Date: 2006

Draws on a wide range of documents to offer a new interpretation of the Emancipation and Reconstruction years and the lasting impact they had on the nation's history.
Defining moments African American commemoration & political culture in the South, 1863-1913 by Kathleen Ann Clark
Call Number: e-book

ISBN: 0807856223

Publication Date: 2005

The historical memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction has earned increasing attention from scholars. Only recently, however, have historians begun to explore African American efforts to interpret those events. With Defining Moments, Kathleen Clark shines new light on African American commemorative traditions in the South, where events such as Emancipation Day and Fourth of July ceremonies served as opportunities for African Americans to assert their own understandings of slavery, the Civil War, and Emancipation--efforts that were vital to the struggles to define, assert, and defend
The Emancipation Proclamation : a brief history with documents by Michael Vorenberg
Call Number: E453 .V66 2010

ISBN: 9780312435813

Publication Date: 2010

Within months of Lincolns 1860 election, the Confederate states seceded and the Civil War began. In his inaugural address Lincoln vowed not to interfere with slavery and even endorsed a constitutional amendment to protect it. Yet two years later Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the rebellious states, transforming the goals of the war, and setting the stage for national emancipation. In this volume Michael Vorenberg reveals the complexity of the process by which African-Americans gained freedom and explores the struggle over its meaning. The introduction summarizes the history and national debate over slavery from the country#x19;s founding through the Civil War and beyond, and more than 40 documents and images give voice to the range of actors who participated in this vital drama; Lincoln and Douglass, slaves and slaveholders, black and white men and women working for abolition, and northern and southern editorialists. In addition, essays by contemporary historians Ira Berlin and James McPherson argue the question of who freed the slaves. headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography encourage student learning.

Primary Sources

African American Historical Serials Collection (EBSCOhost)
This collection was developed with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) as part of an effort to preserve serials related to African American religious life and culture. It documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. More than 170 unique titles, approximately 60,000 pages of searchable primary source content, and reports and annuals from African American religious organizations and social service agencies and African American periodicals are included.
Black Thought and Culture (Alexander Street)
Comprised of 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings (audio files, books, correspondence, editorials, essays, interviews, journal articles, letters, periodicals, political leaflets, speeches, and trial transcripts) by historically important black leaders (abolitionists, artists, athletes, civil rights activists, entertainers, politicians, scholars, social reformers, and war veterans). Covering 250 years of history.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
The HeinOnline collection contains legal materials on slavery in the United States and western countries. Scholars will find judicial cases, statutes, essays, scholarly articles that date back to the 19th century through the modern history of slavery. Also included are ebooks and pamphlets. This is a collection critical to any scholar looking to find historical material on legal, economic and social aspects on the subject.
Oregon Multicultural Archives: African American People and Culture
Manuscripts and archival material available at OSU and in other locations across the state.

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Juneteenth

Emancipation Celebration in Oregon

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