On Juneteenth
Author: Annette Gordon-Reed
Publisher: Liveright
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Cover Description
Interweaving American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed, the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas in the 1850s, recounts the origins of Juneteenth and explores the legacies of the holiday that remain with us.
From the earliest presence of black people in Texas — in the 1500s, well before enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown—to the day in Galveston on June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery, Gordon-Reed’s insightful and inspiring essays present the saga of a “frontier” peopled by Native Americans, Anglos, Tejanos, and Blacks that became a slaveholder’s republic. Reworking the “Alamo” framework, Gordon-Reed shows that the slave-and race-based economy not only defined this fractious era of Texas independence, but precipitated the Mexican-American War and the resulting Civil War. A commemoration of Juneteenth and the fraught legacies of slavery that still persist, On Juneteenth is stark reminder that the fight for equality is ongoing.
TL;DR Review
On Juneteenth is a short but powerful collection of essays. Annette Gordon-Reed’s brilliance as a historian and love for her home of Texas merge into something that everyone should read.
For you if: You want to learn more about racism in US history.
Full Review
“Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of one’s affections. In truth, it often requires the opposite. We can’t be of real service to the hopes we have for places — and people, ourselves included — without a clear-eyed assessment of their (and our) strengths and weaknesses.”
This was the second year I’ve had a day off from work in honor of Juneteenth, and I wanted to spend it intentionally. One thing I did was listen to this audiobook start to finish (it’s only 3:44 at 1x speed; 2:30 at 1.5x). I’m so glad I did — and I highly recommend it to everyone.
Annette Gordon-Reed is a historian and law professor who won a Pulitzer Prize for History. She’s also from Texas. This little volume of essays merges those two things in a way that is both moving and educational. She clarifies, expands on, and corrects common understanding of historical events, especially those that took place or originated in Texas (one of which is, of course, Juneteenth).
A few examples: I live in New York and so didn’t have a lot of Texas history in school, so I didn’t know (or had long forgotten) that Texas fought for independence on so many fronts because it wanted to enslave Black people. I was also particularly drawn in to the chapter where she recounts her experiences as the first Black student to integrate one of her local schools.
This book is both love letter and criticism of Texas; it is because she loves Texas that she seeks to help us all reckon with its history. This quick reads (or listen) is packed with heart and information and it’s something I think everyone should read.