Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863 (after a preliminary notice in fall 1862) was a limited wartime measure, only declaring freedom for enslaved people held behind Confederate lines. Bondspeople could only make good on the policy if they could reach U. S. forces. For so many enslaved people in Texas, that hope did not arrive until Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger’s forces arrived in Galveston and declared freedom on June 19, 1865. The later ratification of the 13th amendment to the Constitution on December 6, 1865 officially disallowed chattel slavery throughout the U.S. Texans continued to cherish the June 19th date, and celebrated it annually in an event that came to be known as “Juneteenth.”

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What about celebrations in Arkansas? The earliest emancipation celebrations found so far as reported in Arkansas’s newspapers (which were controlled by whites) is 1867. Celebrations certainly had existed before that. Arkansans actually came to celebrate emancipation THREE times a year—in January, June, and August. These became traditional celebrations specifically for emancipation, put on by Black Arkansans for Black Arkansans.

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The January 1st emancipation celebrations commemorated the Emancipation Proclamation. This date held some special weight because for generations, January 1st was a deeply dreaded date by enslaved people. It was the date the most new labor contracts were set to begin. Therefore, enslaved people who were rented out had to depart on January 1st for their temporary home and work, and were subject to separation from family. January 1st was also the day that new overseers, who rarely stayed on the same place more than a few years, usually began their contracts. Enslaved people braced themselves to learn how brutal the newcomer might be. So to celebrate January 1st changed the tone of a historically horrifying date.

In addition to the January celebration date, the first week of August was a common date for Arkansans and other northerners to celebrate emancipation, to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies on August 4th in 1834. Interracial groups of northern abolitionists had been celebrating this anniversary as early as 1836. After the Civil War, the practice spread. In fact, in 1885, according to the Russellville Democrat, African American residents celebrated emancipation on August 6th. The (white) newspaper calling it “the negro’s Fourth of July.” By celebrating an international emancipation day, Black Russellville residents linked their history to the global story of slavery and freedom.

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What about Juneteenth? Many enslaved people from Arkansas had been forced to Texas during the Civil War, and would have taken the celebration back with them if/when they returned. The earliest June emancipation celebration found reported in the newspapers occurring in Arkansas is 1900. Thus, Arkansas’s black communities were celebrating it at least that early, and certainly earlier. The celebrations typically included a barbecue picnic, music, and often featured baseball games and other friendly competitions. The event also included programs of speeches and presentations, allowing Black Arkansans a relatively safe political platform during Jim Crow. The holiday was so important that many employers knew to reserve it as a day off. While turn-of-the-century Juneteenth celebrations in Russellville have not YET been identified, the newspaper clipping mentioned above shows that the August celebration was the norm here in that period. We know that railroad companies, looking to profit from the popularity of the June celebrations, offered special round-trip rates for travelers to Juneteenth celebrations. It is possible that early Russellville residents took advantage of the travel discounts to attend Juneteenth celebrations in larger towns like Fort Smith or Van Buren, Little Rock or Pine Bluff, before beginning their own Juneteenth tradition at home.