Photos Of How People Celebrated Juneteenth 100 Years Ago
Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. How have Americans been celebrating it since the end of the Civil War?
Emancipation Day Celebration band, June 19, 1900
On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed a bill designating June 19, also known as Juneteenth, as a federal holiday. Black communities in different parts of the country have recognized Juneteenth for a long time, but more recently it has turned into a national reckoning.
“Juneteenth has become a moment for the nation to recognize the end of slavery, or an end of slavery,” said Dr. Brian Purnell of Bowdoin College in an earlier interview with BuzzFeed News. Purnell has written a book about Black resistance outside of the American South and contributed to Brooklyn Resists, a public history project on display at the Center for Brooklyn History this month.
The Civil War ended in April 1865 when Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy surrendered. Before that, Congress ratified the 13th Amendment, which ruled slavery unconstitutional. “As the story goes, there are parts of Texas that didn’t learn about the end of war until later that summer in 1865. There was a Black American communal recognition, mostly in those parts of Texas and the South, who recognized Juneteenth, June 19, as the end of slavery,” Purnell told BuzzFeed News. “There is no nationally recognized moment where this country takes a pause and says, you know what, this country enslaved people, broke up families, in perpetuity for generations. Juneteenth is becoming a time when the country can do that.”
Here’s a look at how Juneteenth was celebrated long before it was nationally recognized as a holiday.
Martha Yates Jones (left) and Pinkie Yates (right), daughters of Rev. Jack Yates, in a decorated carriage parked in front of the Antioch Baptist Church located in Houston's Fourth Ward, 1908.
A group on Emancipation Day, circa the 1880s, in Houston's Emancipation Park. Rev. Jack Yates, who led the community purchase of the park in 1872, is pictured on the far left, and his daughter Sallie Yates dressed in black in the center.
A group of older adults on Juneteenth. Photograph by Grace Murray Stephenson of celebrations in Eastwoods Park, Austin, 1900.
Mr. D.N. Leathers Sr., Walter Leathers' father, celebrating Juneteenth and driving a decorated one-horse carriage in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, 1913
Civil War reenactors at a Juneteenth celebration at Eastwoods Park, Texas, in 1900
Thomas White and other members of the organization that sought to purchase Emancipation Park
Two women in a decorated carriage, on Robin Street, Houston, circa 1900
A group posing in front of a shop on East Main Street near 21st Street in Richmond, Virginia, on Juneteenth, circa 1900
Juneteenth celebrations in Richmond, Virginia, circa 1905
A woman stands before a decorated carriage. Photograph by George McCuistion of Juneteenth celebrations in Corpus Christi, Texas, 1913.
People gathered before a stage for Juneteenth celebrations in Corpus Christi, Texas, 1913
Photograph by George McCuistion of Juneteenth celebrations in Corpus Christi, Texas, 1913
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Pia Peterson is a photo editor at BuzzFeed News, and is based in Brooklyn.
Contact Pia Peterson at pia.peterson@buzzfeed.com.
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