Michigan marks its 1st Juneteenth as an official state holiday

Juneteenth at Detroit's Eastern Market. | Ken Coleman photo

Wednesday will not be the first official observance of Juneteenth in Michigan, but it will be the first time it is celebrated as an official state holiday. 

“On Juneteenth, we come together to celebrate fundamental American values of freedom and equality, embodied by the stories and legacies of the Black community,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in signing legislation last year. “Juneteenth is a moment of celebration and reflection, but it is also an opportunity to recommit ourselves to action.”

Juneteenth recognizes the date, June 19, 1865, that Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas, and read General Order No. 3, stating that all enslaved people were free, and that former masters and enslaved people were absolutely equal in personal and property rights. 

Its importance has long been celebrated in the African-American community as the country’s second Independence Day, marking the last place in the former Confederacy that experienced emancipation. Although as the National Museum of African American History and Culture has noted, it was only through passage of the Thirteenth Amendment that slavery was truly abolished throughout the United States.

In Michigan, official acknowledgement of the day’s importance was made back in 2005 when then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation officially designating the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Michigan. 

But it wasn’t until July 2023 that legislation making Juneteenth an official state holiday was signed by Whitmer, making this year the first time that the state will be in line with the federal government after President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday in 2021.

Keith Williams, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus (MDPBC), tells the Michigan Advance that while that is certainly a step forward, he has concerns that Juneteenth’s true meaning may get lost in the celebration, namely that the bondage of slavery encompasses more than just the literal chains that kept people in servitude.

“It was good to get your freedom, but we’re not economically free,” he said. “If you’re going to put it all in perspective, I want to be on an equal footing, economically, educationally, and make sure I have the quality of care that is necessary to grow my community.”

Williams, who is African American and a Detroit resident, chairs the City of Detroit Reparations Task Force. He says there are three words that he’d like people to think about on Juneteenth: repair, heal and rebuild. 

“If we don’t repair all the structural things that happened to African Americans, we’ll just be celebrating with no substance behind it. Then you have to heal all the pain that was caused by slavery and all that has happened to municipalities, like running freeway systems through African American neighborhoods,” said Williams.

Once that is accomplished, he added, the rebuilding of those neighborhoods can begin with equitable access to capital and investment in an educational system that serves all students. 

“I just think it’s got to be more than just a celebratory situation,” he said. “It’s got to be about substance.”

One measure of that substance is the representation of the Black community in Lansing’s corridors of power. 

As Michigan Senate Democrats noted in a release on Tuesday, state Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit), who sponsored Senate Bill 50 to permanently designate Juneteenth as a state holiday, is one of three Senate members in the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus (MLBC), along with Sens. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) and Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing). 

“With Sens. Santana, Geiss and Anthony leading the charge, Senate Democrats have passed several impactful pieces of legislation and made meaningful and historic budget investments aimed at supporting and uplifting Black Michiganders and communities,” stated the release.

That “impactful legislation” includes bills under consideration to strengthen Michigan’s hate crime laws and voting protections, as well as cap payday lending interest rates. Additionally, each has seen their bills become law, including Santana’s Filter First legislation to protect children from lead in drinking water at schools and child care centers, and Anthony’s CROWN Act, which bans race-based discrimination due to how someone wears their hair.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), who is white, co-sponsored the bill to make Juneteenth a state holiday. She tells the Advance that for it to truly have an impact on society as a whole, it has to reach beyond the Black community, which requires some introspection and an honest reckoning with our country’s history.

“Especially in this moment, when too many people would rather erase or whitewash our history than face it in all of its truth, acknowledging Juneteenth is so essential,” said McMorrow. “I was honored to be a small part in making it official in Michigan. Just this week, I’ve overheard conversations out at the store or in public with people asking each other, ‘What is Juneteenth?’ For far too many people, especially those who look like me, so much of our country’s history was left out of what we learned in school.  Juneteenth is a part of our history and a celebration!”

McMorrow said she hopes Juneteenth not only becomes a moment to learn, but a moment to celebrate, calling it “a shining example that we can always decide to do what’s right.”

“Even for a wrong as ugly and shameful as slavery, Americans righted this shameful wrong. That’s worth celebrating so that it may be an example to everyone that it’s never too late to make things right,” said McMorrow.

In his annual proclamation about Juneteenth, President Joe Biden acknowledged the need to make things right through direct economic action.

“That includes the funding we are delivering to support predominantly Black neighborhoods that had been divided and left behind by segregation and racial discrimination, the checks we delivered that reduced Black child poverty to the lowest rate in history, the changes we have made to the appraisals process to root out biases that put Black homeowners at a disadvantage,” said Biden.

Williams says he hopes to see similar efforts at the state level, noting the MDPBC last year proposed Gov. Whitmer create a commission to study the harms of slavery and develop policies to try and make amends. 

While Whitmer’s office has yet to respond to that request, her spokesperson, Stacey LaRouche, sent the Advance a statement. 

 “Governor Whitmer is proud to have declared Juneteenth as a state holiday in Michigan, so we can celebrate fundamental American values of freedom and equality, embodied by the stories and legacies of the Black community. The Whitmer-Gilchrist Administration recognizes the work that remains to build a more equitable state, and we will continue to focus on making Michigan a place where everyone can thrive,” said LaRouche.

The administration has also spearheaded multiple efforts to address racial inequities, including establishing the Racial Disparities Task Force, which virtually eliminated the racial disparity in deaths caused by COVID-19, and creating the Black Leadership Advisory Council to recommend policies and actions designed to prevent and eradicate discrimination and racial inequity in Michigan.

Regardless, Williams says he’d like to see both Biden and former President Donald Trump be asked as part of the presidential election if they would support reparations for the harms of slavery, not in the form of a cash handout, but in a sincere effort to undo the systemic racism directed against people of color for generations. 

“Joe is going to say yes. We already know Joe Biden’s history in the African-American community,” said Williams. “I want to know since Donald Trump came to Detroit to a Black church and the church was full of white folks, that would be the opportune time to ask him, ‘What do you feel about reparations?’. … It’s going to be discombobulated. It is going to be ‘We want to Make America Great Again’ kind of sh-t.”

Politics aside, there have already been Juneteenth events in Michigan in Lansing and Detroit. There are more opportunities for residents to not only celebrate Juneteenth, but learn more about the issues that give the holiday impact.

On Wednesday, the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit is hosting its annual Juneteenth Jubilee from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring performances and speakers highlighting “education, economic independence, and community engagement,” while the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy will host the Dequindre Cut from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. with storytelling, live music, vendors, and food trucks located on the eastern border of the historic Black Bottom neighborhood.

Also on Wednesday, the Justice 4 All’s Juneteenth Jam in Grand Rapids will take place in Calder Plaza from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with Black-owned food vendors, along with live musical performances, kids games, and art showcases.

Wayne County will also host a Juneteenth Heritage Day on Saturday, June 22 at Nankin Mills Park in Westland from noon to 4 p.m., while Ypsilanti’s Annual Juneteenth Celebration will take place Friday through Sunday.

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