Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Not just a second Passover: Juneteenth’s unfinished journey

More than sharing legacies, Jews can mark the holiday by working toward Black empowerment

If you or your shul are looking for ways to observe Juneteenth, consider a Black voter registration drive. And maybe a bouncy house.

But please, don’t call the 2-year-old federal holiday that commemorates the freeing of Black people from slavery a “second Passover.” It’s more analogous to the liberation of Nazi death camps.

Contrary to popular belief, Juneteenth was not the day that Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, 2 ½ months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox ended the Civil War. 

Black people in Galveston were quite aware slavery was over. June 19, 1865, was the day Union troops commanded by Major Gen. Gordon Granger arrived to force the slaveholders to abide by the law at gunpoint.

Juneteenth does share commonalities with Passover. It took fixed bayonets to send the message to Southern slaveholders that their free labor was over; Pharaoh had to be compelled in plagues.

Just as the Nazis marched inmates out of the camps ahead of advancing Allied troops, Southern slaveholders moved their human chattel as Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama fell to the Union. Texas was their last outpost.

To be sure, Juneteenth does share commonalities with Passover. It took fixed bayonets to send the message to Southern slaveholders that their free labor was over; Pharaoh had to be compelled in plagues. In neither case was true freedom achieved in a day. The children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. And thousands of Black people continued to be enslaved after the Union Army’s Galveston deployment.

The main difference, however, is that Black Americans are still wondering when true equality will be achieved. Or better, equity — which today is under direct attack by states from Florida to Wisconsin as part of the right wing’s latest boogeyman of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Still, the day is worth observing, as Black communities as far away from Texas as Duluth, Minnesota, have been doing for years before the national holiday was designated. I’ve been a part of them, at events including food, concerts, games and even a bouncy house. What better way to celebrate freedom?

Significantly, many Juneteenth events are also true to the deeper spirit of the day, as an opportunity to foster Black empowerment. Thankfully, it no longer has to be enforced at the barrel of a gun — at least I hope it doesn’t — but with practical avenues for full participation in America’s democracy and abundance. That includes voter registration, affordable housing and job fair booths.

Because freedom was never achieved in a day, not even a national holiday.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.