Juneteenth: Supporting Mental Health Equity Everyday

By BetterHelp Editorial Team|Updated June 14, 2022

What Is Juneteenth?

---

Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, honors the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States in the month of June. The holiday’s history began in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. In that year, the Civil War Union General Gordon Granger, arrived with Union troops to free the people living in slavery in the Texas town, two years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, enacted by Abraham Lincoln, declared that all slaves, or enslaved peoples, inside and outside Union lines be freed.

Though many have recognized Juneteenth in Texas and around the country since 1866, it was not officially declared a holiday on the federal calendar until June 17th, 2021. This year, the holiday falls on June 20th, which is a Monday in June. Its long path to one of the national dates of celebration in June that has been fraught with advocacy against the holiday’s ignorance and is still a hot topic, outside of Texas, even today. 

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/juneteenth-supporting-mental-health-equity-today-and-everyday/

Celebrate Juneteenth like you would any other federal holiday this June 19 and June 20. Here are a couple of examples for how you can celebrate during the month of June:

• spending time with others at family gatherings during June
• cooking celebratory food in your kitchen, inspired by African American communities & cooking
• brainstorming ways and ideas to help promote equity this June
• attending a Juneteenth festival on June 19
• flying your American or Texas flag at half mast
• educating yourself by reading news and information on racial injustice, historical events like the Civil War, slavery, and Emancipation Proclamation, and legislation changes during the month of June
• coming up with a new tradition or annual celebration that honors those lost to discriminatory violence
• and more!

It’s important to remember and understand the history behind June 19. It is not simply a day we get to take off work and hang out in our present homes while watching the television networks. We must reflect on the slave past of our country, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the how impact of slavery in the United States continues to affect our society. Juneteenth commemorates the suffering of enslaved people that happened almost one-hundred-and-fifty half years earlier. 

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/juneteenth-supporting-mental-health-equity-today-and-everyday/

Disclaimer*** Paid article link

Sources: betterhelp.com, 64parishes.org/entry/slavery-in-Spanish-colonial-Louisiana

In the words of scholar William H. Wiggins Jr, June 19 and the month of June has “taken on a life of its own.”