Isabel Wilkerson Instagram – 246 years. Nearly two and a half centuries. That is how long slavery lasted in what is now the United States of America.
This is the day that we commemorate the moment that the last enslaved Americans were finally freed in the slavery stronghold of Texas on June 19, 1865. They had toiled for two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and months after the end of the Civil War.
These are the people, the enslaved ancestors, whose courage and fortitude we honor today. They are the reason we celebrate.
This is a time to remember that slavery was not merely a sad, dark chapter in our country’s history, but the foundation of the country’s social, political and economic order, and that it lasted for nearly a quarter of a millennium.
Slavery lasted so long that no adult alive today will be alive at the point when African-Americans will have been free for as long as African-Americans were enslaved. That will not happen until the year 2111.
It was a privilege to speak about the significance of this day and of the central role of slavery in the history of this country with @nprmichel on @NPR’s Morning Edition today:
“The building of the country cannot be extricated from slavery: Enslaved people cleared the land and built the early infrastructure that would become the United States. They built the wall in lower Manhattan from which Wall Street takes its name. They built the Capitol Building and the White House…..
“This is a day to recognize and extend gratitude to twelve generations of people who gave so much to this country and received so little for their hard labors.”
Here in this iconic photo, survivors of slavery steadfastly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900. In the early years, the newly freed people and their descendants took pains to dress up for Juneteenth, as laws had forbidden enslaved people from dressing “above their station,” above their caste.
In honor of the last African-Americans to finally be set free from chattel slavery….
#juneteenth #freedomday | Posted on 19/Jun/2025 22:47:46
