25 Juneteenth Quotes to Celebrate the Significance of Freedom Day

On Juneteenth, there is a special sense of pride for many Black people, and especially Texans. The holiday, which falls on June 19, commemorates the historic day when more than 250,000 enslaved people in Galveston Bay, Texas, finally gained their freedom on June 19, 1865—two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation—and folks have been celebrating Juneteenth for 159 years since.

Despite its significance in American history, Juneteenth—the name is a mesh of both the month and day, June 19—only just became a federal holiday three years ago on June 17, 2021. (It became an official holiday in Texas in 1979.) 

While the push for it to be officially recognized as a national holiday was championed by many, there is arguably no one who campaigned harder than Opal Lee, 96, a retired teacher, counselor, activist, and native Texan. At 89 years old, Lee, who has earned the moniker the "grandmother of Juneteenth,” walked from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., logging two and a half miles each day to represent the two and a half year period between the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln and the release of enslaved Texans. Her hard work paid off too, because she was right by President Joseph R. Biden’s side when he signed the bill to recognize the day.

In honor of Juneteenth, we’ve brought together a mix of inspiring and symbolic quotes from politicians, scholars, activists, and celebrities that capture and celebrate the importance of the day.

Juneteenth Quotes

1. "People think it’s a Black thing, when it’s not. It’s not a Texas thing. It’s not that. Juneteenth means freedom, and I mean for everybody." —Opal Lee

2. "Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory, or an acceptance of the way things are. Instead, it's a celebration of progress. It's an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, things do get better. America can change." —President Barack Obama

3. "What I love about Juneteenth is that even in that extended wait, we still find something to celebrate. Even though the story has never been tidy, and Black folks have had to march and fight for every inch of our freedom, our story is nonetheless one of progress." —Michelle Obama

4. "Happy #Juneteenth everyone! We’ve come so far—but we know we still have a long way to go." —Halle Berry

5. "I love that Juneteenth is now an official federal holiday. A time to honor our past and those who’ve forged a path to our present.” —Oprah Winfrey

6. "We are celebrating African American liberty, but a liberty that has typically come delayed, a liberty that was not promised, but something that we continuously have to fight for...including today." —Amanda Gorman

7. "It might seem like a small moment in time, but it is a critical moment in the long struggle to realize the promises of American democracy and freedom. Juneteenth would surely have gone unmarked in our collective historical memory had it not been for the thousands of formerly enslaved people who kindled the small flame of that moment." —Shennette Garrett-Scott, PhD

8. "We are gathered here in a house built by enslaved people. We are footsteps away from where President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. And we are here to witness President Joe Biden establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. We have come far. And we have far to go. But today is a day of celebration. It is not only a day of pride, it is also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action." —Vice President Kamala Harris

9. "As much as I love the Fourth of July, shouldn’t the real Independence Day be the day that everybody was free?" —Anthony Anderson as Andre Johnson in Black-ish (Season 4, Episode 1)

10. "Juneteenth may mark just one moment in the struggle for emancipation, but the holiday gives us an occasion to reflect on the profound contributions of enslaved Black Americans to the cause of human freedom." —Jamelle Bouie

11. "Happy Juneteenth! Being Black is your activism. Black excellence is a form of protest. Black joy is your right." —Beyoncé

12. "...Today on Juneteenth: the day we celebrate the end of slavery, the day we memorialize those who offered us hope for the future and the day when we renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom." —Angela Davis

13. "From this moment on when you look at the vastness of the night sky and you see those stars moving up there, know that those stars are our African ancestors dancing. They’re dancing in celebration because their lives are finally being acknowledged." —Pharrell Williams

14. "The liberation Juneteenth commemorates is cause for celebration, but it also reminds us how equality can be delayed." —Usher

15. "Juneteenth is a day of profound weight and profound power." —President Joseph R. Biden

16. "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

17. "Black liberation has never just been about Black people. It’s been about a fight for our humanity, for our dignity.” —Patrisse Cullors

18. "You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much—for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold.” —Sojourner Truth

19. "Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.” —John Lewis

20. "Emancipation wasn’t a gift bestowed on the slaves; it was something they took for themselves, the culmination of their long struggle for freedom.” —Jamelle Bouie

21. "You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms.” —Michelle Obama

22. "I knew then and I know now, when it comes to justice, there’s no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, ‘This is not right.’” —Claudette Colvin

23. "When day comes we step out of the shade / Aflame and unafraid / The new dawn blooms as we free it / For there is always light / If only we're brave enough to see it / If only we're brave enough to be it.” — Amanda Gorman

24. "Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” —Coretta Scott King

25. "You can't separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” —Malcolm X