America celebrates Juneteenth — the 2nd Independence Day for Black citizens

Americans are celebrating Juneteenth — for the fourth time as a federal holiday — to commemorate some four million enslaved Blacks who were freed after the end of the Civil War and also ended a system in which America profited from unpaid labour of millions of Africans.

Wednesday's holiday marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, found out they had been freed — after the end of the Civil War and two years after then-president Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

President Joe Biden signed into law just three years ago, making Juneteenth a federal holiday. According to a new survey by the marketing research firm YouGov, 90 percent of Americans are now aware of the holiday compared to just 74 percent in 2022.

"Juneteenth is significant in the struggle for African American freedom," Portia Hopkins, Rice University at Houston historian, told Anadolu Agency.

"I think before 2022, it was largely treated as a Texas holiday, and celebrations were hyperlocal," she continued. "As knowledge grew about the holiday, we started to see more people recognise and choose to celebrate Juneteenth as a significant moment in African American history."

Dr Karida Brown, a sociology professor at Emory University whose research focuses on race, said there's no reason to feel awkward about wanting to recognise Juneteenth just because you have no personal ties or you're not Black. In fact, embrace it.

"I would reframe that and challenge my non-Black folks who want to lean into Juneteenth and celebrate," Brown said.

"It absolutely is your history. It absolutely is a part of your experience. ... Isn't this all of our history? The good, the bad, the ugly, the story of emancipation and freedom for your Black brothers and sisters under the Constitution of the law."

Juneteenth's history

Nearly 12.5 million enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas by Europeans and American slave traders. Some 10.7 million reached the American shores alive in dire circumstances in cargo ships between the mid 17th century and 1860, and the rest died on the way.

The impact of forced migration on Africa continent was profound, stripping it of its vibrant and capable population.

Slave trade companies kidnapped people from their native lands. Most slaves were transported in cargo ships and chained to plank beds with little room to move. Profits came first, so the traders packed the ships to the gills, and didn't provide even basic necessities.

Juneteenth was created by combining the words June and nineteenth to commemorate the day on which Union Army General Gordon Granger declared the 250,000 slaves in Galveston officially free.

The date has been celebrated by the Black community for more than 150 years as America's second Independence Day. It was first recognised as a state holiday in Texas in 1980 and enacted as a federal holiday in 2021.

Over the decades, Juneteenth has also been called Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, Black Fourth of July, and Second Independence Day, among other things.

"Because 1776, Fourth of July, where we're celebrating freedom and liberty and all of that, that did not include my descendants," Brown said.

"Black people in America were still enslaved. So that holiday always comes with a bittersweet tinge to it."

It's typical to wish people a "Happy Juneteenth" or "Happy Teenth," according to Alan Freeman, a comedian organising a Juneteenth comedy festival in Galveston, Texas for the second straight year.

Monument dedicated to those who endured slavery

Thousands of surnames have been engraved on the towering monument in Alabama, representing the more than four million enslaved people who were freed after the Civil War.

The Equal Justice Initiative, a criminal justice reform nonprofit, invoked the Juneteenth holiday — on Wednesday as it dedicated its National Monument to Freedom.

The monument, which honors the people who endured and survived slavery, is the centerpiece of the new Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, Alabama, where art and historical artifacts tell the story of enslaved people in the United States.

During the dedication ceremony, Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson recounted how enslaved people endured unspeakable horrors, but also left a legacy of perseverance and strength.

"Enslaved people in this country did something remarkable that we need to acknowledge, that we need to recognise and that we need to celebrate. Enslaved people resisted. Enslaved people were resilient. Enslaved people found ways to make a way," Stevenson said.

Juneteenth is a day to confront the brutality of slavery and its impact, but he said it is also a day to celebrate the dignity and strength of people who managed to love and survive despite what they faced.

"They never stopped believing. The never stopped yearning for freedom."