On Juneteenth

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, by US President Abraham Lincoln, announcing the end of legalized slavery in all Confederate states. It was issued as a war measure specifically targeting the states in rebellion during the American Civil War. It is significant to On Juneteenth because General Order No. 3 was modeled after the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation is mentioned in the Preface and Chapter 6.

General Order No. 3 refers to the Order issued by General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, announcing the end of legalized slavery in Texas. This event is commemorated by the holiday, Juneteenth. The Order contains the language of “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former master and slaves” (124), which is also significant to Gordon-Reed’s discussion of Juneteenth and Texas history. The Order is discussed in the Preface, Chapter 1, and Chapter 6.

The Balcones Escarpment refers to a raised limestone fault that bisects Texas. The east and west regions on each side of the Balcones Escarpment have different ecologies, histories, and cultures, and most people in Texas live on the eastern side of the Escarpment. The Balcones Escarpment is significant in On Juneteenth because, despite the majority of Texans living on the eastern side, it is the image and culture of the western side that has informed the public imagination and popular understandings about Texas. The Balcones Escarpment is discussed in Chapter 1.

The Texas Revolution was the 1835 to 1836 rebellion of white Anglo-American colonists in the region of present-day Texas against the Mexican government, to whom the region formerly belonged. The Anglo-American victory established the Republic of Texas, i.e., Texas as its own nation, prior to its absorption into the United States. The official reason for the rebellion is the centralist tendencies of the Mexican government, but Gordon-Reed demonstrates that while centralism may have been a legitimate concern, the preservation of slavery was also integral to white Anglo-Americans’ decision to rebel. The Texas revolution is discussed in Chapter 1 and Chapter 5.

The Mexican-American War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico lasting from 1846 to 1848 following the US annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845. Although the Republic of Texas was an independent nation, the Mexican government still recognized the territory as its own, so the US annexation of Texas was seen as an act of aggression. Thus, the Mexican-American War was a part of a longer conflict to which the preservation of slavery was central because the independent Republic saw annexation to the United States as a solution to the antislavery sentiment of the Mexican government and the growing antislavery sentiment in parts of the United States. The Mexican-American War is discussed in Chapter 1.

De jure is a legal term referring to practices that are legally recognized while de facto refers to practices that may exist in reality but are not legally recognized. These two terms are used in Chapter 2 where Gordon-Reed discusses changing legal code that made school segregation illegal, but in reality segregation and hostility towards Black people continued. 

Segregation refers to the enforced separation of groups of people. In this case, it refers to the enforced separation of racial groups in terms of housing, education, and other institutions. Gordon-Reed discusses de jure and de facto segregation in Texas and the United States in Chapter 2.

Integration, also known as desegregation, refers to measures taken to correct segregation. It is discussed in Chapter 2 in terms of education and Supreme Court decisions of the 1950s that mandated school integration in the United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark decision in the US Supreme Court that ruled racial segregation constitutional so long as facilities were equal in quality. This doctrine came to be known as “separate but equal.” This case is significant to On Juneteenth as Gordon-Reed mentions it in Chapter 5 as a demonstration of how official US policy has upheld the idea of first-class and second-class American citizenship that contributes to Black people’s double consciousness. It is also significant because the decision was later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education, which Gordon-Reed also discusses. 

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark decision in the US Supreme Court that ruled school segregation unconstitutional. Gordon-Reed discusses Brown v. Board in Chapter 2 when she recalls the period of school integration in Texas and her experience as the first Black child to integrate an all-white elementary school in Conroe, Texas.

Freedom of Choice refers to plans developed in a number of US states and counties following the Brown v. Board decision. Freedom of choice plans were intended for the integration of schools by allowing the right to choose schools independent of race. However, they were also used to maintain de facto segregation. Freedom of choice is significant to Chapter 2 where Gordon-Reed discusses her experience of integration. 

Green v. County School Board of New Kent Country, Virginia was a US Supreme Court decision ruling that freedom of choice plans did not comply with the Brown v. Board mandate of school desegregation. Gordon-Reed mentions the case in Chapter 2, explaining that the case began the integration of all Conroe, Texas schools.

Patriarchy refers to a complex sociopolitical system in which men dominate roles of social, political, moral, and family authority. In its interaction with white supremacy and other social ideologies, patriarchy helps allocate power based on a number of intersecting factors, including race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, class, and ability. Patriarchy is significant to On Juneteenth because understanding its ideological underpinnings is important to the historical analysis that happens throughout Gordon-Reed’s discussion. She specifically mentions patriarchy in Chapter 2, noting it includes not only the subjugation of women but also competition between men.

Settler colonialism refers to a form of colonialism in which an incoming imposing group seeks to exterminate and replace the population native to or already occupying an area, particularly through violent means. Settler colonialism is the backdrop against which the United States was developed, so it is significant to Gordon-Reed’s discussion because she demonstrates that the actual violence and mechanisms of settler colonialism are concealed through sanitized historical narratives emphasizing cooperation and intermixture between European and Indigenous groups. Furthermore, it is significant because the project of settler colonialism is intimately intertwined with the institution of slavery that also plays an integral role in the development of the US.

The Comanche are an Indigenous American tribe who lived in present-day Texas and surrounding areas during the 18th and 19th century. They were forced onto reservations by the European colonization of the present-day United States and are currently headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. They are significant to On Juneteenth because in Chapter 4, Gordon-Reed explains the use of the Quanah Parker story in Texas history education to promote the narrative of Indigenous and Anglo-American cooperation and intermixture despite the actual reality of violence and conquest to colonize and develop the region of present-day Texas.

The Alabama-Coushattas are an Indigenous American tribe that migrated to East Texas from Alabama and the Southeast. Consisting of what used to be two distinct tribes who shared a common culture and language, the Alabamas and the Coushattas formed an alliance and became one tribe as a result of European colonization and disease that disrupted their lives as well as conflict with other stronger Indigenous tribes. They are discussed in Chapter 4, as they aided Texas revolutionaries during the Texan conflict with the Mexican government.

The American Indian Movement is a grassroots movement founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to address systemic violence against Indigenous Americans. Gordon-Reed refers to the American Indian Movement in Chapter 4 as part of the discussion of the involvement of Indigenous Americans in Texas history as well as the acknowledgement that Indigenous people are still present in Texas and the US and not just a part of the state’s or nation’s past. She mentions the American Indian Movement to highlight the way the use of Native American imagery has been used to romanticize Indigenous people without any real rectification for the violence and displacement of settler colonialism.

Double consciousness originally referred to the idea of Black people’s experience of twoness as a result of their simultaneous “Americanness” and “Blackness” while the two were constructed in opposition to each other. It was coined by W.E.B. Du Bois and elaborated upon in The Souls of Black Folks. It has since come to apply more broadly to the experience of any oppressed group within the system of their oppressors. Double consciousness is a point of discussion in Chapter 5, where Gordon-Reed acknowledges the same sense of twoness exists for Black Texans, especially given the synonymity of Texas in the public imagination with whiteness.

The Battle of the Alamo was an 1836 battle during the Texas Revolution in which Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission in present-day San Antonio, Texas. The battle has legendary status in Texas and US history. Gordon-Reed discusses the Battle of the Alamo in Chapter 5, noting its prominence in Texas history and legend and how the historical narrative of the Alamo promotes the idea that the (white) American men who died at the Alamo did so for a noble cause. The construction of this heroic narrative contributes to the tendency to idolize historic figures and disregard their human fallibility and complexity. 

The Battle of San Jacinto was the final battle of the Texas Revolution in which the Texan Army, under the command of General Sam Houston, defeated Mexican President Santa Anna. It is a prominent point of discussion in Chapter 5, where Gordon-Reed discusses the purposes of historical narratives, heroic historical figures, and the complexity that the inclusion of people of color adds to historical narratives.

“The Yellow Rose of Texas” refers to the legend of a woman of color with a diverse racial background who was influential in the Battle of San Jacinto. Mexican President Santa Anna is said to have been defeated because he was preoccupied with intimate relations with the woman. In Chapter 5, Gordon-Reed discusses the woman, Emily West, who is believed to have been the “Yellow Rose of Texas,” in addition to the 1853 song that popularized the legend. Furthermore, the legend is used as an example of the complications that arise in dominant historical narratives when the presence, experience, and perspective of people of color are included as well as to acknowledge that the motives of historical narratives must be questioned for more accurate historical analysis to occur.

The American Civil War was an armed conflict in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy. Although states who belonged to the Confederacy claim the American Civil War was a matter of states’ rights versus a strong central government, slavery, and particularly the expansion of slavery into new US territories, was the central issue. The American Civil War is the main context of On Juneteenth, as General Order No. 3, and therefore the holiday of Juneteenth, are aftermaths of the Confederate defeat in the American Civil War. While it serves as a backdrop to Gordon-Reed’s entire historical analysis, it is discussed most extensively in Chapters 1 and 6.

Reconstruction refers to the era following the American Civil War from 1865 to 1877. It involved the reintegration of newly freed people and the states of the Confederacy into the United States after the end of armed conflict and legalized slavery. Gordon-Reed discusses the Reconstruction Era in Chapter 6, including white Texans’ violent response to it as well as what it meant for formerly enslaved Black people.