Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration by Edward T. Cotham Jr. (review)

In the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020 and the protests of it by Black Lives Matter and others, there has been greater public awareness of those voices and stories once dismissed or ignored. Whether that awareness is about statues or the teaching of a more inclusive curriculum in the classroom, the country has begun a discussion about the past. With almost perfect timing comes Edward T. Cotham's monograph Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration. This book, surprisingly, is one of only two academic works on the subject, Annette Gordon-Reed's recent On Juneteenth being the other.

Cotham's book comprises twenty-two chapters, with the last briefly noting how the celebration became a state holiday in Texas. It begins with a synopsis of slavery in Texas and then transitions into many short chapters about slavery, Abraham Lincoln, and the American Civil War. Cotham attempts to weave these subjects toward emancipation within the narrative, but at times he strays toward a general treatment of the politics and diplomacy of the Civil War era rather than keeping his focus on Juneteenth. But since each chapter is about ten pages long, the time spent focused on tangential subjects is brief. By far, the two most informative and strongest chapters are 18, about General Gordon Granger, the drafter of General Order No. 3, the official Juneteenth order, and 19, called "Just like that we were free," which chronicles the varied ways formerly enslaved people received the news of their emancipation.

I will focus on chapter 18, in which Cotham fleshes out what he calls the "delicate balance" that precedes the "slavery is dead" declaration by Granger by highlighting the man most responsible for the language of General Order No. 3, Major F. W. Emery, a crusading slavery opponent from Kansas. Cotham discusses the difference between General Philip Sheridan's wishes and the language that appeared in the general order. Of particular note was Emery's insertion that "absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor" (191). Cotham declares this wording "the most important and memorable language" in the order (191). In fact, the final product produced by Emery "contained a little something for everyone" (192) in that the enslaved were now free; abolitionists were witness to the legal end of slavery; former slaveholders were comforted with the advice to former slaves to remain where they were and continue working; and those concerned with freedpeople becoming idle were assuaged by former slaves' new status as employees. Cotham also highlights General Granger's eccentricities, especially his unusual professional and personal behavior, his lack of subtlety, and his awkwardness with women. Cotham additionally notes how the man most associated with Juneteenth behaved with Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Sheridan in ways that both "helped and hindered their interactions with each other" (168).

Although strong in chronicling Juneteenth's development, Cotham could have done much more with how the celebration has evolved through the years. Cotham dedicates few pages to the memory of the celebration and how subsequent generations have transformed it instead of to the greater struggle within the African American community both in Texas and other states. A celebration tied to so specific an act as emancipation, of course, would begin to lose its relevance for each generation beyond slavery. African Americans, for whom slavery was history, not memory, would meld the celebration into their lives. Juneteenth would come to signify their struggle, perhaps, against Jim Crow or police brutality. Nevertheless, I recommend Cotham's work as a good introduction to understanding the original meaning and subsequent development of Juneteenth.