Juneteenth became a national holiday after decades of denial that it was a significant day in American history.
The granting of the status of an official national day of celebration also allows for the communal reflection about enslavement and the struggle for freedom.
On Juneteenth is a book of essays about this day and about Texas, written by Pulitzer Prize- recognized historian Annette Gordon-Reed.
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond. All too aware of the stories of cowboys, ranchers, and oilmen that have long dominated the lore of the Lone Star State, Gordon-Reed―herself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas as early as the 1820s―forges a new and profoundly truthful narrative of her home state, with implications for us all.
Combining personal anecdotes with poignant facts gleaned from the annals of American history, Gordon-Reed shows how, from the earliest presence of Black people in Texas to the day in Galveston on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of legalized slavery in the state, African Americans played an integral role in the Texas story.
The New York Times named On Juneteenth one of the ten best books of 2021. It was recognized by the Washington Post in its selection of the best books of 2021.
It was also singled out by TIME, NPR, Oprah Daily, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Independent, Los Angeles Public Library and the Washington Independent Review of Books.
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