Celebrate the liberty trifecta on a site funded by, appropriately enough, the Liberty Fund.
Five years ago, I didn’t even know why Apple put Juneteenth on my Mac calendar. I just assumed that it was a play on words.
And then I checked.
Juneteenth really is rightly celebrated as the end of slavery in America.
Two other dates in June stand out for those who, like me, are into freedom: June 12 and June 30. Interestingly, two of the three (June 19 and June 30) were historic days on which slavery in America ended. And two of the three (June 12 and June 19) were historic days on which black Americans made major strides.
June 12
On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court found, in Loving v. Virginia, that anti-miscegenation laws were illegal. Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Loving, a black woman, had gotten married in Washington, D.C. in 1958, where interracial marriages were legal, and then returned home to Virginia. Five weeks later, they were arrested by the local sheriff. Think about that. They were married in 1958 and they didn’t win their case until 9 years later. The wheels of justice move slowly. By the way, what a great name for a Supreme Court decision about two people in love.
Those laws affected my white friend Fred Jealous, who married a black woman, Ann Jealous. They and their son Ben Jealous tell the story here. They got married in Washington, D.C., because they couldn’t legally marry in Maryland, where Ann grew up.
June 19
The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 did not come close to ending U.S. slavery. If you carefully read the actual proclamation, you will see why.
It was actually on June 19, 1865, that slavery was ended. That was the day that Major General Gordon Granger ordered the enforcement of the proclamation in Texas. It makes a lot of sense to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery
June 30
On June 30, 1973, the federal government’s authority to draft American men expired. It was not renewed. 52 years later, it still has not been renewed. That’s two generations of American men.
HT2 Taylor Davidson.
READER COMMENTS
Craig
Jun 19 2025 at 2:21pm
With respect to the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln came from the school of thought that slavery was a topic for the US government to decide with respect to the territories but that it was a topic under the control of the states. So when he issues the Emancipation Proclamation he does so as a war measure, to weaken the Confederacy. Many like to suggest that as the edict was given that on that date not a single slave was freed, fair point, but by 1865 the EC had actually resulted in emancipation for the vast majority of slaves.
David Henderson
Jun 19 2025 at 2:47pm
True.
Alan Goldhammer
Jun 19 2025 at 3:33pm
I voted for Ben Jealous in the 2018 MD governors race. Unfortunately, he lost to Larry Hogan who saddled us with the light rail system that is $4B over budget and 3 years behind schedule.
David Henderson
Jun 19 2025 at 4:36pm
Wow! I had no idea that Hogan supported that boondoggle.
I’ve known Ben since he was about 16 and he was working in the Dukakis campaign.
Alan Goldhammer
Jun 20 2025 at 12:34pm
Purple Line (Maryland) – Wikipedia tells the sorry story about the project. Hogan had the chance to mitigate the loss and pull the plug but did not. They will have a light rail system that nobody really will use. There is already a good bus line from Silver Spring to Bethesda and that is never 100% full during rush hour.
john hare
Jun 19 2025 at 6:40pm
I had to follow the link to read the proclamation as I couldn’t remember for sure. When were the slaves in the states Not in rebellion freed? Wasn’t it somewhat after the war?
Mactoul
Jun 20 2025 at 12:09am
In one sense, the state still has authority to draft men. For they could re-impose the draft when they deem fit. In one sense too, this authority is unalienable. To be a state means, among other things, to have precisely this authority– to draft men to fight for the existence of the state since self-preservation is the highest imperative of the state.
Andrew_FL
Jun 20 2025 at 3:30am
Technically slavery wasn’t legally abolished in the last place in the US until December 18th 1865 with the ratification of the 13th amendment, freeing the last slaves in Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey (there were a relatively small number of people who were, under New Jersey state law, “apprentices for life” at the time of ratification).
Warren Platts
Jun 20 2025 at 3:15pm
Yes, that is true. The last state to free their slaves was Delaware, not Texas. In fact slavery was legal in the Northern Union throughout the war. When West Virginia seceded from Virginia, they got a waiver from the Emancipation Proclamation. The very last slaves freed belonged to Cherokee Indian enslavers quite some time after December 18th, 1865. If the American Civil War was really the “War to End Slavery,” it would stand to reason that the North would’ve freed their slaves first instead of last…
Andrew_FL
Jun 20 2025 at 11:42pm
The Cherokee Nation was not part of the United States. Most northern states abolished slavery long before the war. Not abolishing slavery in the northern states that still had it was necessary to keep them in the Union. If they had been forced to immediately emancipate their slaves they would’ve joined the Confederacy. The war aim of the Union was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery, correct. The aim of the Confederacy, however, was to preserve slavery.
Craig
Jun 20 2025 at 4:14pm
FYI by 1865 in NJ Nj had adopted a form of gradual emancipation such that by the 1860s the law was realky intended to prevent the emancipation of elderly slaves.
Janet Bufton
Jun 20 2025 at 9:18am
I’ve got more for you, David (though not in the United States):
1 June 1927 marked the end of alcohol prohibition in Ontario.
22 June 1772, Somerset v. Stewart established the emancipation of an enslaved person who made it to British soil, and therefore their right not to be forcibly removed to a slave nation. The reasoning was that slavery was so odious that it could only be supported by positive law, and no such law was in force in England and Wales.
Summers, though, are the liberty season, because these are also important dates:
9 July, 1793 was when the Act Against Slavery was passed in Upper Canada, prohibiting the importation of slaves into Canada, limiting the slave trade in the British empire for the first time and freeing foreign enslaved people who made it to Canadian soil. (Enslaved children would also be freed after 25 years.) This wasn’t enough, but it was the legal basis for the Underground Railroad. This law was championed by Lt Governor John Graves Simcoe, who had hoped to abolish slavery in Canada completely but was unable to because of slaveholders in the legislature. Toronto celebrates Simcoe (as all Ontarians should) on the August civic holiday by calling it Simcoe Day.
Finally, the Slavery Abolition Act was passed on 28 August 1833 and came into effect on 1 August 1834, which is celebrated as Emancipation Day.
David Henderson
Jun 20 2025 at 11:34am
Thanks, Janet: things I didn’t know. Somehow I don’t think we discussed this in my Canadian history class in Grade 12 in Manitoba.
So it looks as if Lake Simcoe is well named.
And, of course, if we extend it to the summer, as you suggest, we need to include July4.