The Truth Behind June 19, 1865: What Hari Jones Wanted Us to Know
Setting the Record Straight on the Real Meaning of Juneteenth
Hi GenFriends,
For generations, Americans have been taught that June 19, 1865—what is now called “Juneteenth”—was the day enslaved Black people in Texas learned they were free. This tidy tale, with a White general as the central figure, suggests that freedom was a gift announced to a waiting people. But that version of the story is not only misleading—it erases the truth and dishonors the real liberators.
The late Hari Jones, assistant director and curator at the African American Civil War Museum, spent more than a decade uncovering the facts that challenge this common narrative. He did not support the celebration of Juneteenth as it is popularly known. He believed it was an orchestrated story that portrayed African Americans as passive victims, when in fact, they were the ones who forced freedom’s fulfillment. Watch Hari Jones speaking as curator of the African American Civil War Museum: Why Celebrate Juneteenth? As a matter of Conscious...
Jones highlighted that the Union Army had already captured Brownsville, Texas, in November 1863, well over a year before the so-called Juneteenth event. This strategic victory in southwest Texas, under General Nathaniel P. Banks, was not led by White soldiers alone. Five African descent regiments played a crucial role in that campaign and in the continued occupation of the southern tip of Texas from 1863 through the end of the war in 1865.
“These African American regiments became a part of the Union’s occupation force in southwest Texas from 1863 to 1865,” Jones explained.
This wasn’t simply a late arrival of news in an isolated area. The Emancipation Proclamation had already been actively enforced by African American troops, who held territory and carried out the federal government's military will long before June 19. The final blow came on June 15, 1865, when more than 10,000 Black soldiers of the Union landed in Galveston. Their powerful presence drove the Confederate governor and thousands of rebel troops into Mexico.
“We’re not celebrating a notice,” Jones said. “We’re recognizing the end of a military campaign that forced compliance with the law.”
General Granger’s reading of an order on June 19 was not the liberating act—it was a formal notice made possible by the strength of African American troops who had already made the Emancipation Proclamation a reality.
Hari Jones warned against celebrating Juneteenth as the “day the slaves were freed,” calling that a harmful distortion that serves political and social convenience. In truth, the enslaved had long been fighting for their own liberation—through escape, through enlistment, and, finally, through battle.
Jones tied this historical distortion to broader problems in American society. He explained that law enforcement in the U.S. evolved from slave patrols, not from the British constabulary model designed to protect freemen. This legacy affects the structure of policing to this day and cannot be addressed unless the truth about our nation's founding systems is acknowledged.
“If we keep misdiagnosing the past,” he said, “we will keep misunderstanding the problems we face today.”
He also challenged our language, insisting on the term “captives” rather than “slaves,” because captives still possess agency and dignity. Language, he believed, was a battleground in the fight for historical integrity.
Jones’s call to action was simple and profound: stop telling the wrong story. Stop pretending Juneteenth was the beginning of freedom. Stop centering White deliverers. And stop ignoring the undeniable truth: freedom was fought for, and it was won by African Americans.
This is not a day to celebrate as we’ve been told. It is a day to remember the military campaign, the strategic victories, and the self-liberation of a people determined to be free.
Sincerely,
Robin
Thank you, Rachel!