While U.S. Congressman Danny Davis was growing up in the small town of Parkdale in Arkansas, Juneteenth was an annual celebration for him and his family.
He was told that day was his “real fourth of July.”
He and his family would spend part of the day sharing a large meal, and after they finished, he would spend time reading outside.
Now, Davis said, Juneteenth is a time for people in the United States to reflect on the history surrounding the federal holiday. There are some parallels between the post-Civil War, reconstruction era and the current times, Davis said.
“The progress, the policies…getting rid of martial law which protected Blacks in the South…getting rid of all that, seems to me to be what some are trying to do right now,” Davis said. “That some of the protections of affirmative action. Some of the protections of laws to protect rights of individuals.”
Long before President Joe Biden signed a bill in 2021 that made Juneteenth the 11th American federal holiday — and the first since 1983, when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created — Davis, along with others, had been pushing for national recognition of Juneteenth. He and Barack Obama, who was then a senator, introduced legislation in 2005. And Davis and cosponsors tried again in 2008.
In 2021, he spoke from the House floor during the vote.
“Madam Speaker,” he said, “I rise in strong support of the recognition of Juneteenth as a national holiday to celebrate the ending of the most horrific period and the most horrific policy and practices this Nation has ever known: slavery. I heard one of my colleagues suggest a moment ago that perhaps the cost of Juneteenth is not known. I guarantee you, Madam Speaker, that whatever the cost, it will not come close to the cost of slavery.”
“Juneteenth” he added, “is the recognition that darkness can come to light and that there is a celebration as my forefathers and -mothers struggled to endure the horror they experienced. So, celebrating Juneteenth as a national holiday is simply an idea whose time has come.”
Today, Davis said, that for progress to be made, one has to understand their history and how they got here.
“If you don’t know where you come from, you won’t understand to know how you got to where you are,” Davis said. “Then you don’t have a good prognosis for where you ought to be going. Individuals look to what has been done and how people managed to do it. It was blood, sweat and tears, it was hard work. It was serious effort, but if those efforts don’t continue then you don’t go any further.”
The holiday also highlights that there is still work to be done for equality and equity, Davis said.
“There is a possibility that all men and women can in fact experience equality and equal expectations, equal justice,” Davis said. “We’ve come a long way, but we’re not there yet.”
While Juneteenth is federal holiday, it is not a day off the job for Davis.
“We will have a chance to experience a holiday, but for me it will be a holiday of work. A holiday of movement. And I hope lots of other people will be doing the same thing.”
