What you think about Juneteenth is probably wrong.

June 19, 1865, was not the day when the enslaved Black residents of Texas–some 250,000–learned they were free, two-plus years after President Abraham Lincoln’s January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Even Encyclopedia Britannica gets that wrong.

When Federal troops arrived in Galveston, TX on June 19, 1865, they did so with the intent of enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation, not merely publicizing it. Texas was a long way from Washington, D.C. and still the frontier of America in the 1860s, but rest assured, news as significant as the Emancipation Proclamation would have spread there within two years.

Lincoln announced Emancipation Proclamation even earlier, on September 22, 1862.

Think about it.

Of course the enslaved people of Texas–to one degree or another–knew about their freedom. People talk. Word travels. Even then. Even among enslaved people denied education, news, and freedom of speech.

And of course the white slaveholders knew about the Proclamation as well. They read papers and traveled and talked.

The news existed, the Proclamation existed, what failed to exist in Texas for two-plus years was anyone to enforce it.

That is what Juneteenth commemorates.

The enforcement of freedom. Freedom realized.

One of many lessons the National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth intends to share when it opens in 2028.

“The enslaved people of Texas were fully aware of their emancipation with the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation,” Jarred Howard, CEO of the National Juneteenth Museum, told me in a phone interview. “For two and a half years they were unable to enjoy a liberty that the law provided for them, and so the celebration of the last Confederate state to emancipate their enslaved citizens is certainly one that's worthy of the books, hence the significance of Juneteenth.”

Even Howard had been wrongly led to believe the “learning about their freedom” Juneteenth myth before starting at the Museum.

“We put a great deal of effort and resources into making sure that what we present in terms of the Juneteenth story is accurate, and so it was during that work we discovered some of the things that we misunderstood before, not the least of which is (the Black residents of Texas) were fully aware of their emancipation, to be sure,” Howard explained. “Just another fact, on December 31, 1862, the enslaved people of Texas celebrated what was called Freedom's Eve. They went to a local black church and they were celebrating their imminent emancipation, which was due them, which they anticipated getting the next day, and that was the precursor to what still happens in Black churches across the country called Watch Night.”

Now you know.

Another piece of the American History puzzle put in place. A clearer, more accurate picture of the nation comes into view.

After debuting last year, the National Juneteenth Museum once again hosts its signature annual event, Freedom Vibes, a 10-day festival running June 11^th through the 20^th in Fort Worth featuring concerts, cultural demonstrations, art exhibitions, educational workshops, and more.

Part of the “more” includes performances by Black choirs, recognizing their essential role in Black communities today, but also harkening back to the first Watch Night. Fort Worth native and 20-time Grammy Award winner Kirk Franklin hosts Freedom Vibes’ free Celebration of Choirs on June 14.

Juneteenth, Opal Lee, And Fort Worth

When Federal troops announced to the residents of Texas–Black and white–that they had arrived to enforce emancipation, they did so from Galveston. Galveston was a particularly nettlesome nest of secession and Texas’ primary port. Much of the state’s connection with the world was through Galveston. Galveston was a big deal until being obliterated by a hurricane in 1900, never to reclaim its previous significance.

Galveston would seem like the natural location for the national Juneteenth museum. Fort Worth, however, in the 21^st century, makes more sense.

Start with Fort Worth now being the 10^th largest city in the United States, and next door neighbor Dallas being the ninth largest. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area has 8.5 million people. Just over 50,000 people live in Galveston, which is out of the way on the Gulf Coast. In addition to all those residents, Dallas-Forth Worth has two major international airports and four interstates funneling into it.

“With all due respect to our friends in Galveston, and we are well connected to the Galveston movement, we do Juneteenth a disservice if we put a national museum in Galveston that doesn't have the type of visibility that you'll get in a Dallas-Fort Worth area,” Howard explained. “That's one component. The second component is, for all intents and purposes, the global face of Juneteenth is Opal Lee. Opal Lee is a Fort Worthian. As a consequence, she draws a great deal of attention by virtue of the fact that she lives in Fort Worth.”

Opal Lee learned about Juneteenth growing up in Fort Worth. She went on to become an educator, social worker, historian, and activist. For decades, she sought greater awareness for Juneteenth. Her activism paid off on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, officially establishing June 19 as a national holiday. Lee, then 94 years old, was in attendance and recognized.

“Miss Opal has had a Juneteenth museum in Fort Worth for the last 20 years, and so ultimately, we're simply scaling what already existed,” Howard said.

As icing on the cake, the City of Fort Worth has committed $15 million to the project.

What inspired Lee to devote her life to the promotion of Juneteenth? As a Black resident of Texas, part of her motivation is obvious.

“She’s always been a proponent of individual liberties for as long as she’s been alive, but we think there's a little bit of an omen, if you will,” Howard said. “Miss Opal's childhood home was burned down by what the Fort Worth Star Telegram referred to as a white mob of about 500 people. They had just moved into the home, and apparently they moved on to the side of the street where Black people were not welcome. The mob destroyed their home and burned it down; that happened to have been on June 19, 1939. The correlation there, obviously, June 19 being a significant day where Miss Opal and her family didn't get to experience freedom in the way they thought they might, and so her affinity for all things freedom and individual liberties was born even as a child.”

Goosebumps.

Now 99 years old, Lee is expected to attend Freedom Vibes, the specific days and events dependent on her health.

Freedom

June 19, 1965.

January 1, 1963.

July 4, 1776.

2026 marks the 250^th anniversary of the United States. A nation supposedly founded upon freedom, although freedom was denied a great number of its residents from the beginning through the present day.

On Juneteenth, the nation’s founding principle was expanded.

“The through line there is freedom. July 4, 1776, is all about freedom and emancipation, and June 19, 1865, is all about freedom and emancipation,” Howard said. “Miss Opal believes we should be celebrating freedom from June 19 through the Fourth of July. The bedrock of America is freedom, and freedom sits at the foot of both the Fourth of July and Juneteenth.”

American freedom is backsliding.

Voting rights Opal Lee’s generation fought and died for and enjoyed for 60 years have been washed away by a Supreme Court and state houses from Texas to Florida seeking to restore Jim Crow racial hierarchy. The old Confederacy.

White supremacists, in response to gains made by minorities during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s broadening who was able to participate in and enjoy American freedom, liberty, and democracy, planned and plotted. They were patient and well-funded. They started small. They built a foundation in corporate America, the media, politics, and the courts. They frayed the edges, then, when the time was right, went for the whole shebang.

Now, a bigot occupies the White House.

His regime is rife with white nationalists.

Fascism has descended upon America.

Black History is being erased.

The Voting Rights Act has been trashed.

Racial gerrymandering is taking place in a dozen states to remove Black representation in government.

“Voting is indeed a right for every American citizen, and there should be no exclusions,” Howard said. “We, as bona fide American citizens, are bullish about making sure that American citizens enjoy all of the liberties that the Constitution provides for every person. We have a workshop as a part of the Freedom Vibes festival that is all about voter education. We're not telling people who to vote for, we're telling them why you should vote.”

Following Freedom Vibes, the National Juneteenth Museum’s next major milestone comes this fall with groundbreaking on its $70 million museum building. October 7 to be exact. Opal Lee’s 100^th birthday.

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