Juneteenth is now a national holiday thanks to people like activist Opal Lee and former President Joe Biden.
Juneteenth began as a Texas holiday to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day that the last slaves learned about their emancipation in Galveston, Texas.
Thanks to activist Opal Lee, Congress and former President Joe Biden, Juneteenth is a national holiday, ensuring that a true part of American history is preserved in an era in which Black history is being whitewashed to avoid hurting the feelings of racists.
Another part of Black history that some may not know is that those who helped enslaved African-Americans escape bondage often faced prosecution.
Although that wrong could not be made right in their lifetimes, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear granted a posthumous pardon to 43 people who were wrongfully convicted in the 1800s of helping enslaved human beings escape to freedom.
Lexington, Ky.’s NBC’s affiliate reported, “According to a press release, Beshear also proclaimed Friday, June 19, 2026, as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in the Commonwealth of Kentucky—a day he has declared an executive branch holiday.”
Beshear said, “When we have a chance to correct a historical wrong, we should do it. That’s why ahead of Juneteenth, I am posthumously pardoning 43 brave Kentuckians who were wrongly imprisoned for helping enslaved people escape to freedom. These leaders are heroes—not criminals—and they and their families deserve the justice of having their names cleared.”
LEX18 News reported, “According to the press release, the executive order lists the names of all 43 individuals pardoned. Among them are:
- Elijah Anderson, a free Black man described as one of the most active Underground Railroad conductors in Kentucky. According to research and records, he helped around 1,000 people reach freedom. Anderson was arrested in Louisville for his efforts and later died in the Kentucky State Penitentiary.
- Julett Miles, a Black woman who was freed by Rev. John Fee and moved north. After learning her children were going to be sold, Miles traveled across the Ohio River to free them. She was arrested and put in prison, where she later died.
- Thomas Brown, an Irish immigrant, was arrested at the age of 60 and imprisoned. He suffered severe beatings for two years before being released.”
According to the African American Encyclopedia, “Although not an actual railroad of steel rails, locomotives, and steam engines, the Underground Railroad was real nevertheless; over time, it helped thousands of southern slaves reach freedom. A vast, informal network of paths through southern fields and woods, a network of fords across rivers, a network of safe houses where runaway slaves could hide, the Underground Railroad had many conductors—men and women, Blacks and Whites—some so famous that their names are still known, others whose names are lost in the past even though their work was heroic…
“The paths of the Underground Railroad were several. Slaves in western Louisiana, Texas, and western territories usually headed south for Mexico. Those from eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee usually moved west until they struck the Mississippi River, followed it to the Ohio River, and crossed into freedom in one of the states in the old Northwest; some continued on to Canada. Kentucky slaves also headed for the old Northwest and Canada. From Georgia and Florida, runaways most often headed for the Florida Keys; there, they hoped that they could find a ship captain to sail them to freedom. From the Carolinas northward to the Mason-Dixon line, escapees marched straight north, hoping to reach Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New England, and Canada…
“Many former slaves who escaped became Underground Railroad conductors because they wished their family and friends could be free. In addition, many free African Americans so hated the South’s ‘peculiar institution’ that they helped slaves escape. One former slave known only as Ben escaped from Kentucky by crossing the Ohio River and hiding in Ohio. Subsequently, he made several trips back to Kentucky in the 1830’s to rescue others, but he was finally caught and reenslaved.”
Rev. Andrew Baskin, professor emeritus at Berea College, joined Beshear at the pardoning ceremony.
Baskin said, “We’re talking about individuals who knew there was a law, they knew that the law was unjust, they knew that the law was immoral, and they were willing to disobey the law and to suffer the consequences. What Gov. Beshear did today is to help correct part of the mistakes that have happened in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
James Prichard, historian, author and former member of the Filson Historical Society staff who also attended the signing of the executive order, said, “Gov. Beshear’s pardon sheds a spotlight on this neglected chapter in Kentucky’s history. I think it’s important, particularly in this time when there seems to be an effort to sanitize our past, that this part of our history is no longer swept under the rug and becomes a part of Kentucky’s soil. It is well that Kentucky has finally honored the courage and sacrifice of those whose names have previously been lost to history.”
Juneteenth as a national holiday is another way to prevent history from being swept under the rug, honoring the date when General Gordon Granger officially announced that enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were finally free from bondage.
