What Is Juneteenth And Why Does Trump Claim Credit For It?

Juneteenth is a celebration that has taken place on June 19 every year, since 1866 after more than 250,000 enslaved black people became free finally. In fact, it is one of the most popular annual celebrations of emancipation from slavery in the United States. And yet, President Donald Trump is of the opinion that had it not been for him, people of the U.S. wouldn’t have even heard of Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day or Liberation Day as June 19 is the day on which in 1865 then the Emancipation Proclamation was read in Galveston, Texas, proclaiming the freedom of all slaves in the state. Texas even became the first state to Juneteenth an official holiday in 1979.

This year would have marked the 26th anniversary of the formation of the Delaware Juneteenth Association, which has been hosting the Juneteenth celebrations for years. But owing to the coronavirus pandemic, many major events have been canceled like the annual Miss Juneteenth Pageant.

"When coronavirus came along, we knew we had to still do something," said Delaware Juneteenth Association treasurer and co-founder Sandy Clark.

Thus, now, the group is aiming for virtual events and already hosted several online workshops. Starting from June 19, there will be a Juneteenth observance and a virtual panel discussion moderated by Adrienne Bey and hosted by Rev. Pearl Scott Johnson of Newport-area Simpson United Methodist Church.

On June 20, the association is holding two peaceful protest march in support of Black Lives Matter. There will also be a Juneteenth caravan of decorated cars, which will begin the celebrations of the holiday at Christina Park at Fourth and Church streets starting at noon after the marches end.

But if President Donald Trump is to be believed, he is the one who popularized Juneteenth

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he took credit for popularizing the day and claimed that no one had ever heard of the June 19 holiday before he scheduled his first campaign political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the very day.

"I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,” he said. "It's actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it."

And when he was informed that the Trump administration had been putting out statements on Juneteenth for the last three years he has been in office, he was caught unawares.

"Oh really? We put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement?" Trump said. "Ok, ok. Good."