While the Juneteenth holiday comes just once a year, mental health equity is a year-round cause. Learn more about this foundational holiday and how this historical day illuminates the importance of racial equity in mental health care.
Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19th to honor the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The holiday can be traced to Galveston, Texas, where approximately 2,000 troops arrived on June 19, 1865, and announced the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas. Before this day, some people remained enslaved despite the Emancipation Proclamation, which was passed in 1863 to free slaves in the U.S. In places still under Confederate control – which included Galveston, Texas – many people remained enslaved until the end of the Civil War in 1865.
In 1980, Texas officially recognized Juneteenth as “Emancipation Day,” a statewide holiday. Though many people have celebrated Juneteenth since 1866, many states did not recognize the holiday until President Joe Biden officially declared Juneteenth as a national holiday on June 17th, 2021.
The national recognition of Juneteenth follows an emotional and lengthy journey, heightened by the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Celebrators and supporters of the holiday have worked hard to raise awareness of this seminal summer day, and to remind U.S. citizens – as well as people outside the U.S. – why we honor this moment in history. Juneteenth also relates to another event which is Black History Month, which strives to celebrate the contributions and acknowledge the sacrifices made by African Americans.
With this history in mind, Juneteenth is also an opportunity to point out and condemn modern examples of racial inequity in all areas of life – including mental health care. These injustices persist in the U.S. and elsewhere, and as advocates for equity, we must remember that the end of slavery did not mark the end of all racial injustice.
In the context of mental health, the difference between equity and equality influences our ability to support people of all backgrounds, especially those who belong to racial and ethnic minority groups. For some of us, Juneteenth may be one of the few days of the year when we openly discuss this distinction – but for lasting change, these discussions must continue past June.
Read more at BetterHelp.com.
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