The History
In February, Minnesota became the 26th state to recognize Juneteenth—commemorating the day the last enslaved Americans in Texas finally learned they were free—as a state holiday.
State employees will get June 19 off, while private companies will have the choice. But for many, celebrating Juneteenth is nothing new. Community members and politicians have been fighting to make Juneteenth a state holiday since 1996, when State Rep. Richard Jefferson first introduced a bill in the Minnesota House.
“And its history here is even longer than that,” says Rose Brewer, a professor in the Department of African American and African Studies at the U of M. “In 1984, Michael Chaney established a Juneteenth celebration in north Minneapolis. It was happening in the Black community long before it got legislative attention.”
The Celebration
This year’s Northside event, held on West Broadway on June 19, will have Black-owned food and shopping vendors, speakers, educational exhibitions, a parade, a carnival, and more. The U of M also hosts an event (June 17 this year), as do parks and communities around the Twin Cities.
But Lee Jordan, who started as a north Minneapolis Juneteenth vendor in the 1980s and now organizes the event, stresses it’s more than a party.
“A lot of the history we don’t talk about, because it’s uncomfortable,” he says. “But how do you expect to get past the pain unless you look directly in its face? Juneteenth is a commemoration and a celebration.”
The Juxtaposition
Brewer says that distinction is key. “The whole issue of symbolism versus real change has been part of the conversation,” she says, noting it gained more visibility outside of Black communities in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
“That makes it more of a complicated question about what is to be understood. Beyond the celebration, what are the real demands and needs of people in this country who were enslaved for 250 years?”