This article was originally published in UCSB's ' The Current '.
Juneteenth has been celebrated in its home state of Texas since 1866, but it wouldn’t become a nationwide holiday until 2021 as racial tensions spiked in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. Since then, discussions of race have occupied — and influenced — national discourse at levels unseen since the Civil Rights Movement. And among the most prominent of many topics today: reparations.
“The fact that Juneteenth is a national holiday reflects the same broad changes that have allowed for a public conversation about reparations,” said Giuliana Perrone, an associate history professor at UC Santa Barbara.