The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did not immediately emancipate all enslaved people. Issued in the middle of the Civil War that remains the nation’s bloodiest conflict, President Lincoln’s order covered the states that had seceded from the Union, but enslavers in places still under Confederate control did not liberate enslaved men, women, and children. There were other caveats to the proclamation as well, ones that kept people in the border states like Delaware in bondage.
On June 19, 1865, around 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, one of the farthest edges of the Confederacy. They had traversed across the South freeing enslaved people. When they arrived, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 that freed enslaved people in Texas.
Juneteenth over the years came to be celebrated by many Black communities in churches and at family gatherings across the country. A decade ago, Opal Lee, a Texas-based civil rights activist, began her quest to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. President Biden signed the holiday into law in 2021.
This year, Juneteenth has been weighed down by the Trump administration’s efforts to erase Black history and undermine how Americans learn about historical facts and developments in national parks, schools, museums, and cultural institutions.
On Thursday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration could rework exhibits that tell the stories of the nine people who were enslaved by George Washington at the President’s House Site on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. The judges noted that “These new panels are full of historical context. They highlight the momentous events that took place in the President’s House and the other sites at Independence National Historical Park.” However, historians and Philadelphia city officials claim that the material has been whitewashed.
The original exhibits had been restored in January after a scathing ruling from a federal district court judge who likened the Trump administration’s actions to those of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984. Immediately after the decision was handed down, the Trump administration appealed and was vindicated yesterday.
The Philadelphia decision comes in the wake of a ruling last week by a Massachusetts federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to restore displays in national parks, museums, and landmarks that were changed under the president’s 2025 executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Under that order, the Trump administration has been making moves to destroy material that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.” What those materials actually aimed to do was acknowledge the impact that anti-Black racism has had on the U.S.
One of the first executive orders that President Trump issued during his second term ended federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, which led to concerns over whether Juneteenth would even remain a national holiday. Both Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day were removed from a list of days when visitors can access national parks free of charge. Trump then added Flag Day, June 14, which is his birthday, to the list.
These specific efforts to erase Black history and do away with diversity programs join dozens of other efforts that have occurred since Trump’s second term began. Attacking Black history, eradicating the accomplishments of Black Americans, and minimizing the impact of systemic racism on the nation’s social fabric is a gut-wrenching backdrop to recognizing Juneteenth in 2026, a holiday that already has roots in one of the gravest crimes against humanity.
“It would be really nice if this country had the wherewithal to literally be honest and not look at slavery as something that is shameful but ‘it’s over with, it’s done, and so nobody can do anything about the past,’” says Michelle Duster, an author and public historian. “But I think we can do something about the future, and in order to make this country whole—you can’t be whole if you’re not honest—so being dishonest and sweeping things under the rug and acting like things didn’t happen won’t undo the past.”
In a world where Black history is vulnerable, celebrating Juneteenth should be grounded in being candid about America’s painful past of deeply entrenched racial oppression. Schools, libraries, and museums must be free to ensure people truly understand the history of the American system of chattel slavery.
“Juneteenth has to be part of the resistance to the erasure of Black history and whitewashing of history, book banning and the sort of censorship culture that is facing our schools and libraries,” says Patricia Schechter, a professor of history at Portland State University. The insistence on celebrating [the holiday] in a robust and deeply informed way is part of that resistance to ideological policing of history that we are experiencing.”
Even if the White House ignores Juneteenth this year, plenty of other organizations and institutions will mark the day. In Chicago, June 19 celebrates the grand opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, a campus that features a museum, library, and educational spaces. “There’s just a lot of excitement and buzz around the opening of the Obama Center on Juneteenth, why that date was chosen, and what it means for the African American experience,” says Duster. “Given the sort of social climate of the administration, I feel like celebrating and recognizing Juneteenth this year is a massive form of resistance.”
But Black Americans remain resilient, surviving, and thriving. Whether it be on the South Side of Chicago, in Washington, D.C., or in Galveston, Texas, Juneteenth will continue to be celebrated and recognized. In the words of James Baldwin, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
