By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Experts say Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19, can provide generational healing for Black Americans.
“Juneteenth provides Black Americans with a culturally sanctioned space to acknowledge the depth of generational trauma while simultaneously celebrating survival and resilience,” said Rev. Dr. A’Shellarien Addison, CEO of Desakajo’s Flo and an Army Chaplain. “This dual nature—mourning and celebration—mirrors the complex emotional landscape that many Black families navigate daily.”
Addison said to truly understand Juneteenth’s healing power people must recognize that Black American freedom is something that they still have to defend and fight for, whereas White Americans have historically experienced liberty as a birthright.
“The holiday serves as a collective therapy session, allowing communities to name the trauma without minimizing its impact, honor the ancestors who endured unimaginable suffering, celebrate survival against insurmountable odds and envision liberation as an ongoing process rather than a completed event,” said Addison.
Though former president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which declared enslaved persons in Confederate territories free, it was not until June 19, 1865 that a vast majority of enslaved persons were liberated. On that day, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to notify around 250,000 enslaved African Americans that they were freed.
A year later, the first Juneteenth celebration was held at Emancipation Park in Texas by freed African Americans under the name, Jubilee Day. According to the National Archives, not only was it a day of celebration, it was a time to inform Black people about how to vote.
“Juneteenth, to me, is sacred ground,” said Tammy Triolo, founder of PCQ Consulting. “It is where truth, memory and reclamation converge.”
“If we’re serious about honoring Juneteenth, we must be serious about emotional restoration,” added Triolo.
Addison pointed out how Juneteenth offers a different perspective on Black liberation.
“For generations, the story of Black liberation has been told through the lens of White benevolence—focusing on Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation rather than the resistance, rebellion and resilience of enslaved people themselves,” said Addison. “Juneteenth shifts this narrative, centering Black agency and self-determination.”
“This reclamation is profoundly healing because it restores dignity to ancestors who fought for freedom,” continued Addison. “[It] empowers contemporary Black Americans to see themselves as inheritors of strength, challenges internalized narratives of helplessness or dependency and creates space for Black joy and celebration without White permission or validation.”