# America needs Emancipation Day as a National Holiday **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 27, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130 "2021-06-27T20:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/1 "2021-06-27T20:29:51Z")
Juneteenth is great and all, but it doesn’t truly represent the end slavery. We need a national holiday on December 17 to represent the freedom of America’s final slaves. The way things stand now, we as a nation are pissing on the graves of the people who continued to be slaves in Kentucky and Delaware. America just can’t stop its abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/2 "2021-06-27T20:40:56Z")
> [@HughGoply](#): > > Juneteenth is great and all, but it doesn’t truly represent the end slavery. It’s been celebrated as such for 166 years now. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/3 "2021-06-27T20:44:46Z")
I think it would be more useful (to people of all colors, but perhaps especially to black people) to have Election Day as a national holiday. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/4 "2021-06-27T20:50:40Z")
Sorry. December 18. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/5 "2021-06-27T20:51:51Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It’s been celebrated as such for 166 years now. Falsely. The slaves in Delaware and Kentucky count. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/6 "2021-06-27T21:19:29Z")
I would prefer Election Day be 42 days long. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/7 "2021-06-27T21:25:05Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I think it would be more useful (to people of all colors, but perhaps especially to black people) to have Election Day as a national holiday. This would solve nothing. The overwhelming majority of working people in this country don’t get a day off work just because it’s a holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/8 "2021-06-27T21:25:53Z")
> [@HughGoply](#): > > it doesn’t truly represent the end slavery Why not? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/9 "2021-06-27T21:31:10Z")
> [@HughGoply](#): > > Sorry. December 18. If they made December 18th a holiday, it could also serve to celebrate the Ex parte Endo decision by the Supreme Court “ending” the Japanese interment after WW2. Yes I know thee will be endless arguments about when this ended as well. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/10 "2021-06-27T21:32:25Z")
If the majority of the descendants of US slaves want to celebrate the end of that slavery on June 19th I don’t see where anyone else’s opinion counts. For once, let’s let _them_ determine something about their history. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/11 "2021-06-27T23:32:07Z")
Again, this would not work. People who got the day off would likely just go on vacay, and the poorer working classes like in retail, food service and they like do not get paid holidays anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/12 "2021-06-27T23:34:25Z")
So 2 holidays to celebrate the same thing? No. I agree that Election Day should be a holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/13 "2021-06-27T23:40:35Z")
If anything, Election Day should be abolished. Having everyone vote on the same day is 19th century thinking. Polling places should be open seven days a week for 3-4 weeks leading up to November and anyone who wants to vote by mail should be able to without obstacle. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/14 "2021-06-27T23:44:34Z")
There were tens of thousands of slaves in Kentucky and a couple hundred slaves in Delaware until the 13th Amendment finally took effect in December 1865. These states, not ever being in a state of rebellion, were not affected by Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/15 "2021-06-28T00:19:03Z")
> [@HughGoply](#): > > We need a national holiday on December 17 to represent the freedom of America’s final slaves. The way things stand now, we as a nation are pissing on the graves of the people who continued to be slaves in Kentucky and Delaware. I think celebrating June 19 as the day the last slaves were freed is a mistake, but setting aside one day to celebrate the emancipation of slaves is not. I don’t think it is “pissing on the graves of” emancipated Kentuckians/Delawarians just because the day falls on June 19 instead of December 18. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/16 "2021-06-28T00:21:07Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I think celebrating June 19 as the day the last slaves were freed is a mistake, but setting aside one day to celebrate the emancipation of slaves is not. I don’t think it is “pissing on the graves of” emancipated Kentuckians/Delawarians just because the day falls on June 19 instead of December 18. It’s pissing on their graves because it goes back to a celebration from before their freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/17 "2021-06-28T00:31:48Z")
> [@HughGoply](#): > > It’s pissing on their graves because it goes back to a celebration from before their freedom. Have their descendants said this? I can’t seem to find any great outcry amongst African-Americans about this, so what it looks like is an unsubstantiated excuse to shove it between Thanksgiving and Christmas in an effort to downplay the holiday. Unless of course there are cites from people in Kentucky and/or Delaware who are upset about Juneteenth for the reason you state. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/18 "2021-06-28T00:33:44Z")
While we’re at it, let’s crash a Seder to tell them they’re pissing on the graves of their ancestors who were enslaved by the Hittites rather than the Egyptians. This is a solution in search of a problem. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/19 "2021-06-28T01:04:09Z")
In the U.S., we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th, despite the fact that the Second Continental Congress actually voted to approve the legal separation from Great Britain on July 2nd, and the Declaration of Independence was likely not signed until August 2nd. We celebrate Thanksgiving in late November, though the Pilgrims’ original Thanksgiving celebration was in October. Holidays are often inaccurate on the calendar, especially when one looks back to their historical origin. As others have said, unless there are actually descendants of those slaves from Kentucky or Delaware who are expressing their displeasure over the Juneteenth holiday, the OP is just seeking out a problem to solve. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130/20 "2021-06-28T01:21:44Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > There were tens of thousands of slaves in Kentucky and a couple hundred slaves in Delaware until the 13th Amendment finally took effect in December 1865. These states, not ever being in a state of rebellion, were not affected by Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. No, my question was: why does the date determine what a holiday represents? That’s not how holidays work. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-needs-emancipation-day-as-a-national-holiday/945130.md?page=2)