Statement: Juneteenth Recognized as National Holiday

Raleigh: Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 that enslaved African-Americans in Texas were finally told three words: “You are free.”

Now, 156 years later, our nation marks Juneteenth, June 19th every year, as a federal holiday, honoring where this nation has been and how we continue to seek a more perfect union.

North Carolina has always played a pivotal role in the struggle for Civil Rights. On February 1, 1960, four African-American students in Greensboro refused to leave the whites-only lunch counter. Their bravery ignited similar episodes of civil disobedience across the country. In 1957, 15 year old Dorothy Counts and three other black students faced an angry crowd at Harry Harding High School, enduring jeers, taunts, and threats during Charlotte’s integration. Shaw University, one of the oldest HBCUs in the nation, was the founding place of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which Ella Baker helped create. The student group expanded across the South, helping to organize marches and Freedom Rides. They advocated for grassroots leadership; every individual has the power to effect change at the local level.

We still face obstacles every day, such as legislation limiting what is taught in our schools. Such legislation intends to hide the very history Juneteenth preserves. The declaration of Juneteenth as a holiday renews our focus as we continue to work toward a North Carolina that never forgets its history, recognizes there is much work left to do, and never loses sight of the progress earned by civil rights pioneers.