What does freedom actually look like?
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 June 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Happy Juneteenth! For those not in the know, today commemorates when U.S. federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed – a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Since then, Juneteenth has been celebrated all over the country, especially in Texas and across the South, where Juneteenth parades, cookouts, festivals and pageants happen every year. Two weeks from now, the country will celebrate the Fourth of July – and its 250th anniversary. For many Black Americans, there’s always been a tension between these holidays – and their two different ideals for what it means to be free. As voting rights protections are rolled back and Black history is being scrubbed from government websites, what does freedom look like for Black Americans today?
To get into it, Brittany is joined by Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College.
For more episodes about the quality of Black life in America, check out:
Jesse Jackson & the end of the civil rights superhero
Is the economy slowing? Ask Black women.
What to expect when you're expecting racism
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy Juneteenth, everybody. This is the day that commemorates when U.S. federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed. |
| 0:15.0 | Now, mind you, this was a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Since then, Juneteenth |
| 0:22.7 | has been celebrated all over the country, especially in Texas and across the south, where |
| 0:27.9 | Juneteenth parades, cookouts, festivals, and pageants happen every year. Two weeks from now, |
| 0:34.0 | there is another bigger freedom celebration that I know you're familiar with, |
| 0:39.1 | the 4th of July. Two holidays, two weeks apart. Two separate timelines of freedom in this country. |
| 0:46.6 | And already, you can throw a rock and hit 10 America 250 campaigns. There are both nonpartisan |
| 0:53.1 | and deeply partisan events dedicated to America's |
| 0:56.5 | semi-quincennial. In addition to America 250, President Trump signed an executive order to create |
| 1:03.1 | Freedom 250, an organization adding UFC matches, a concert series, and even a Grand Prix to the |
| 1:10.2 | celebration. Still, all of this festivity |
| 1:13.2 | can't help but feel strange to me. For generations, Black Americans who celebrate Juneteenth |
| 1:18.0 | have felt this tension between these two holidays. They represent two very different ideals of what |
| 1:24.2 | it means to be free in this country. To help me work through that tension, |
| 1:28.3 | I'm here with the chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, Dr. Kelly Carter Jackson. |
| 1:33.5 | Kelly, welcome back to It's Been a Minute. Hey there. |
| 1:40.0 | Hello, hello. I'm Brittany loose and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. |
| 1:57.0 | Okay, so there are going to be some people who are coming into this conversation without any real knowledge about June 10th, even though it has been made a federal holiday. |
| 2:05.0 | And I will admit, I did not grow up celebrating Juneteenth at all up in the north. |
| 2:10.8 | It wasn't really a part of my family's traditions at all. |
| 2:14.5 | So even when it became a federal holiday, there was a lot of things that I learned |
| 2:19.3 | about that were kind of new to me. You're not alone. Yeah, I'm just saying, I'm like, you can't make |
... |
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