Juneteenth memes have taken over Twitter on this day commemorating the official end to slavery in the defeated Confederate states after the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger entered the state of Texas and ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the last of the enslaved peoples in the rebellious states.
Other Black individuals and families remained enslaved in states that never officially succeeded from the union but were still terrible slave-holding bastions of misery, but Juneteenth still became a date of happy memories to the Black community in the U.S.
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth to be an official federal holiday—the first new holiday of its kind since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was made official in 1986.
2024 Juneteenth memes
In 2024, three years later, Black Americans are celebrating with cookouts, hopefully, a day off from work but often not, and the usual annual memes and jokes.
This year, a lot of these are poking fun at the fact that a good number of non-Black individuals are getting the day off while many Black workers, especially those disproportionately representing low-wage jobs and gig work, are not.
“White people should be doing double shifts on Juneteenth,” wrote actor and filmmaker Kar Logan.
Others are commenting on how rapidly the holiday has become commercialized, with every random company including somebody’s veterinarian office sending out emails wishing customers a “Happy Juneteenth.”
“BLESSED by a Juneteenth email from the vet, thankful and cannot wait to share it with the dog,” said writer Hanif Abdurraqib.
Regardless of your likely complicated feelings about Juneteenth, what we can say for sure is that this day should be a time of celebration and merriment for Black Americans and a time of quiet contemplation for everyone else, with an emphasis on “quiet.” Feel free to enjoy these Juneteenth memes without hitting the reply button.
Related memes:
- Joe Biden freezes during White House Juneteenth event, becomes a solid meme
- ‘Black Panther’ showed Black meme culture some love, too
- The 21 best Black memes shaping internet culture
- Meet the next victim of the “hilarious black neighbor” meme
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