Still don't quite understand Juneteenth? Under Trump, it'll be harder to learn
Many people are off from work on Thursday for Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. and is the newest federal holiday.
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when U.S. Army soldiers entered Galveston, Texas, and took control of the former Confederate territory. Though President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it couldn't be implemented in Confederate states. Texas didn't come under U.S. jurisdiction until the Army rolled into Galveston and declared that all slaves in the state were free.
Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is recognition of this history and of a day that's long been celebrated by many Black Americans as Freedom Day.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the act that designated June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day.
It's hard to believe that a similar holiday would be enacted under President Donald Trump. Dismantling anything to do with diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government is a cornerstone of the Trump administration. Many federal agencies have eliminated or scaled back celebrations of Black History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Pride and other observances.
This attempt to bury or ignore the country's rich history and culture is one of the reasons regular Opinion contributor Justin Ray wanted to write an op-ed about how Black philosophers have not received the acknowledgment they deserve.
'Philosophy interests me because it presents itself as the most neutral, reasoned discipline — yet it has excluded Black voices consistently,' Ray told me. 'That contradiction felt worth unpacking. Especially around Juneteenth, a holiday that marks freedom long delayed.'
'We call him a novelist, an essayist, a social critic. Anything but what he clearly was: a philosopher,' Ray writes in his piece. 'This isn't a coincidence. It's intellectual gatekeeping, and it's robbing Americans of a fuller understanding of wisdom itself.'
Ray told me he's interested in the quiet ways power operates — not just through laws or institutions, but through language.
'A Black thinker can publish groundbreaking ideas, influence generations, and win major awards, yet still not be called a philosopher,' Ray said. 'That kind of exclusion isn't just about titles; it's about who gets to be seen as a legitimate authority on truth, freedom and meaning.'
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