I have also thought that the ending of slavery in America should be a holiday. It was a great achievement in our history and should be commemorated. However, I don’t think it should be Juneteenth rather it should be Dec 18th, the date that the 13th Amendment was officially adopted.
By making this a national holiday we acknowledge all the toil and sacrifice of Americans, both white and black, to end slavery since the adoption of the constitution. How many Americans are aware that Ben Franklin served as President of an abolitionist organization? I would guess not many.
The author of this piece wants people to believe that blacks freed themselves and that whites just freed the slaves to help win a war. Though there is some truth to that there is more truth in the fact that blacks would have never been free without the help of whites and that many whites from the adoption of the constitution on knew that slavery was wrong and antithetical to our founding proclamation of “All men are created equal”.
There were also 350,000 men, mostly white, who died fighting to both preserve America and, after the emancipation proclamation, free the enslaved people of the south. After the emancipation proclamation the US Army became an army of liberation for those enslaved.
A holiday celebrating the end of slavery in America should be one that brings together all Americans that truly love their country.
As I was reading your response I couldn’t help but think of how a greater magnifying glass could be brought to bear on America’s true history and how that might alter the perceptions of both Blacks and Whites in our country. Think of how the telling of the story of abolitionists would yank the rug out from under lying Leftist college professors whose ill-informed students are only allowed to hear about America’s racist past!