Juneteenth: Freedom, Forgotten Promises, and the Unfinished Work of Justice

The Day Freedom Came Late

June 19, 1865. A full two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the last enslaved African Americans were finally free. The war was over. The Confederacy was defeated. Slavery abolished. But it took until that sweltering summer day for freedom to reach the people it had been promised to.

This is Juneteenth - part celebration, part commemoration, and part condemnation. Because the truth is, Juneteenth is not just a historical event. It’s a mirror. One that reflects how far we’ve come - and how far we still haven’t.

“Juneteenth is a time to recognize the ongoing struggle for equality and justice,” writes the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. “It is a time to celebrate resilience.”

(NMAAHC, 2025)

And yet, nearly 160 years later, the question still echoes: Are African Americans truly free?

The History Behind Juneteenth

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863 - at least on paper. But enforcement depended on Union control. Texas, a Confederate stronghold, remained beyond reach. Not until Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston did the enslaved there learn they were no longer property. For many, it was the first breath of freedom. For others, it was too little, too late - families torn apart, lives stolen, and generations forever marked by trauma.

Juneteenth began as a grassroots celebration - barbecues, church services, parades, and public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation. Over time, it spread across the U.S. and in 2021, it was finally made a federal holiday. But the story doesn’t end there. In some ways, the federal recognition felt like symbolism without substance.

Celebration Meets Contradiction

Yes, there are now fireworks, cultural festivals, and official declarations. Yet for millions of African Americans, Juneteenth is less about celebration and more about remembering what still hasn’t changed.

This year, as Juneteenth approached, Donald Trump once again made headlines - this time for his attempt to revoke the day’s status as a paid holiday for federal workers (CNN, 2025). A petty move? Perhaps. But it also laid bare a deeper truth: Black progress in America remains fragile, contingent, and, for some, entirely negotiable.

Amnesty International didn’t mince words in a recent blog post:

“From emancipation to erasure… Black progress is under attack. Systemic racism, police brutality, and inequality continue to define the Black experience in America.”

(Amnesty USA, 2025)

From Slavery to Mass Incarceration: Is This Freedom?

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime. That caveat laid the groundwork for mass incarceration, where Black Americans are imprisoned at five times the rate of whites. The prison-industrial complex has become a profit engine fueled by Black pain.

And it doesn’t stop there. Black households hold one-tenth the wealth of white households. Black maternal mortality rates remain staggeringly high.

Redlining may be illegal, but its effects still shape American cities.

Education systems, employment opportunities, and healthcare access remain riddled with disparities.

Is this what freedom looks like?

Celebrating Resistance, Not Just Freedom

Despite it all, Juneteenth is a celebration. But not of America’s benevolence, rather, of Black resistance and resilience. It honours those who didn’t wait for freedom to be handed to them, but fought, rebelled, built, and created in the face of unimaginable odds.

There are echoes of this in the way Juneteenth has grown, despite efforts to marginalise it. From the marches in Minneapolis to cultural gatherings in London, the global recognition of Juneteenth is a powerful reminder that Black liberation is not confined to national borders.

As The Guardian noted in a recent feature, African Americans are not the only community to celebrate emancipation. But the way Juneteenth has evolved in the U.S. underscores its unique role in a nation still struggling to reconcile its past with its present.

(Guardian, 2025)

The Illusion of Progress

Of course, things have changed. There is a Black woman in the White House. There are Black billionaires, Black-owned media empires, Black astronauts, scientists, and Supreme Court justices. But representation does not equal liberation.

Progress is not a finish line; it's a fragile negotiation. And too often, it’s used as a cudgel to silence demands for more.

"Look how far you’ve come," we’re told. But that’s not the point. The question is: how far have we yet to go?

Poverty Is a Policy Choice

Consider this: while tech billionaires plan Mars missions and yachts get longer, a third of Black children in the U.S. live in poverty. This is not an accident. It is not the residue of an old system. It is the system working exactly as it was designed to.

Juneteenth is not a historical curiosity. It’s a warning. A reminder that emancipation delayed is justice denied. That America, for all its symbols, has never truly reckoned with its original sin.

The Reckoning Must Be Structural

Reparations. Police abolition. Wealth redistribution. Community reinvestment. These are not radical ideas. They are overdue.

Celebrating Juneteenth without committing to its demands is like throwing a birthday party for someone you refuse to feed. It is an empty performance, and Black Americans have seen enough of those.

If this holiday is to mean something, it must be a mandate for action, for equity, and justice.

So, Are African Americans Truly Free?

Not if freedom means survival.

Not if freedom means being allowed to breathe - but not to flourish.

Not if freedom means being told to “pull yourself up” while the ladder is kicked away.

True freedom is the ability to live without fear of the police, of eviction, of medical neglect, of being erased from your history. It is not what African Americans have today. Not yet.

Conclusion: Juneteenth Is a Beginning, Not an End

Let’s be clear: Juneteenth is not the end of slavery’s story. It is a footnote in a volume that’s still being written. It is a day to remember how late freedom came - and how it still hasn’t fully arrived.

If you want to honour Juneteenth, don’t just post a graphic. Don’t just share a quote. Ask yourself what your freedom costs someone else.

And ask yourself whether you’re prepared to fight for a world where everyone is truly free, not just on paper, but in practice. Because history doesn’t just repeat itself. It evolves. Unless we make it stop.