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Happy Juneteenth! - Poster of the Week


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Juneteenth

Tatyana Alanis

Instagram: @french75studios

Digital print, 2025

Anaheim, CA


On June 19, 1865, Gordon Granger, a Union general during the Civil War, traveled to Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved people there that the war was over and they were free. Since 1866, on the one-year anniversary of this day, Black Americans have celebrated Juneteenth as “freedom day” to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. 


Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued two years prior, many enslavers refused to free the enslaved people on their plantations. Enslavers in Confederate states like Texas, chose not to inform the enslaved people of their rights, instead choosing to continue the oppressive and immoral system benefitting them. Some waited until the end of the harvest of 1865, others attacked and killed those who attempted to escape their enslavement after learning of their right to freedom. 


Some of the earliest celebrations of Juneteenth included sharing of voting rights information to formerly enslaved people and gathering in Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas to commemorate the day. Today many celebrations involve public cookouts, parades, fireworks, food festivals, 4K races, musical performances, and church services. 


As we observe Juneteenth this year, we must also recognize the current reality for Black people in the United States. We have seen attempts to erase Black American history from our cultural institutions and museums, the rollback of DEI policies from our government institutions and at major corporations, and threats to civil rights protections for all under the Trump Administration. The fight continues for Black immigrants across the nation as Trump deploys Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) aiming to “crackdown on illegal immigration” and begin a targeted enforcement operation. These raids not only affect brown communities from Mexico, Central, and South America, but also Black and Afro-Latino immigrants. One-in-ten Black people in the U.S. are immigrants. Black immigrants are also twice as likely to be abused by guards and other staff while in ICE custody.  


When these Trump-ordered deportations began, protests against them erupted from coast to coast, starting in Los Angeles which has the 6th highest population of Black

immigrants. Anti-ICE protests also took place in San Francisco, Sacramento, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Portland (Maine), Salt Lake City, Chicago, and Hartford (Connecticut) – many in solidarity with the military occupation of Los Angeles. Last Saturday, over 5 million people attended over 2000 protests around the country to protest Trump’s birthday parade and vicious attacks on immigrant communities.


This Juneteenth, we are reminded not just of the legacy of enslavement in the United States and the celebration of the end of enslavement for over 4 million people but of the ongoing battle against racism, fascism, xenophobia and homophobia against Black people. This community continues the fight against police violence, attacks on bodily autonomy, discrimination in healthcare, the racial wealth gap and other forms of oppression. The fight is not over!

Celebrating Juneteenth-


Things to do:



Read from a curated reading list:


And be sure to buy books from a Black-owned bookstore:


Donate to Organizations Doing Important Work:

The Bail Project


References:







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