NORFOLK, Va. — From its inception, Juneteenth was always a patriotic holiday. And in many southern states, it began as Emancipation Day.
"It was whatever day the Union army showed up at their doorstep. That was their Emancipation Day, " said Dr. Marvin Chiles, an African American history professor at ODU.
The day's celebration was filled with patriotic pride as the formerly enslaved sent a message that they wanted to be included in the American experiment.
"There had been this concept that now that we're free, we as people should not only celebrate this freedom but show our insistence on being American citizens--so in these parades, you would have Black communities come out there and people would come out with American flags," explained Chiles.
In Tappahannock, Virginia, Emancipation Day was a huge event that took over the entire town. Town historian Carole Harper told 13 News Now in the documentary Etched in Stone: The Hurt Behind the Heritage that she remembers the celebrations as a young child, as it was celebrated from the 1870s until the mid-1900s.
"You saw people and you heard bands, and you heard singing. It was just a good day," Harper said.
In Galveston, Texas, the Union army didn't show up until June 19th, 1865. That was the day the last of the enslaved in the U.S. learned of their freedom. The celebration of freedom there adopted the name Juneteenth, June and 19 merged together.
Chiles says Juneteenth and Emancipation Day had the same purpose, a fight for inclusion.
Emancipation Day began to fade as the formerly enslaved began to die off in the early 1900s but Juneteenth continued to grow in the deep South, eventually catching on all over the country.
The push for it to become a federal holiday was part of an effort among African American leaders to include it as an American celebration, just like July 4th.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021.
"Black people did create the holiday--absolutely--however, they created the holiday as a platform for their equal citizenship and equal treatment in American life that incorporates everyone, because they can't be treated equally if half the country doesn't believe they're equal," Childs said.