History Worth Remembering.
This article is part of Finding the Words, a newsletter that delivers practical insights on the day’s issues.
Tomorrow is June 19, 2025—Juneteenth.
One year ago today, I posted this:
It has been 159 years since the last enslaved people of the U.S. South received news of emancipation and were finally set free.
It’s been just four years since the first wave of companies started recognizing the day as a paid holiday.
It’s been just three years since it became designated as a federal holiday.
And it’s been just two years since the New York Stock Exchange began observing Juneteenth as a market holiday.
What a difference a year can make.
On the eve of this Juneteenth 2025, a different story is taking shape—not of progress, but of pull-back, as national leaders try to bend truth, bury history, and change facts.
Government websites have been stripped of historical accounts and critical details, while museum collections are being packed away and shipped back to their owners. Corporations and local governments across the country have reneged on funding and support for Juneteenth celebrations, citing budget shortfalls and changing priorities.
This is not the year for Juneteenth to simply come and go. It’s not the year for the history of this day to be lost.
Juneteenth is the exact moment to reconnect with the words and stories of our past, starting first with the recent past…
In the closing months of Donald Trump’s 2019 re-election bid, he proposed making Juneteenth a national holiday—a fact likely hard to believe today but important to remember.
Here are the actual words from his 2019 statement (still live on the White House website):
“Across our country, the contributions of African Americans continue to enrich every facet of American life. This Juneteenth, as we vow always to uphold the God-given rights of all Americans, we pay tribute to the indomitable spirit of African Americans.”
See, history is worth remembering.
Ben Jealous, former president of the NAACP and a 2018 candidate for Governor in my home state of Maryland shared some even more recent words about Juneteenth in the Philadelphia Tribune this week— words also worth remembering:
“Juneteenth is not just about the day the last enslaved people in Texas finally learned they were free—It is about the delay. The gap between law and justice. It is about how long freedom takes when you leave it up to power. Juneteenth is about the power and importance of truth...In every generation, there are people who want to bury the truth. We are living through one of those times right now.”
The stories in his piece are also worth remembering and repeating.
Read his entire article today.
I think back again to these words from last year’s Juneteenth post:
“In our nation’s long and storied journey toward justice, progress can feel painfully slow. Progress can feel out of our control. Progress can feel downright impossible.”
If you worry about history being stripped and stories being lost, do something to protect those stories. Make progress feel possible again.
Read. Consider adding one of these books to your summer book list.
Watch. Consider adding one of these documentaries to your movie list.
Learn. Explore these resources from the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Participate. There are events happening all across the country this week, from parades to parties, movie screenings, sports clinics, festivals, and more. Find an event in your community, register, and participate.
Bottom line: There is no future without a past. And that’s something worth remembering.
This post is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.
