Vox Sentences - Essential reading this Juneteenth

Many Americans will celebrate Juneteenth this year for the first time, one year after it officially became a federal holiday, but for Black Americans, Juneteenth has been a constant for more than 100 years. It marks the day that enslaved Black people in Texas found out that they were free, two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

For all of us, it's a time to reflect on what it means to celebrate the end of slavery — and what truths about Black freedom are exposed, such as whether freedom is merely delayed or will be eternally denied for Black Americans.

To explore these questions, we partnered with Capital B, a nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices, on a series of stories on the significance, history, and concept of freedom delayed. It is such an important package, and I hope you take some time to read it.

Juneteenth is on Sunday, June 19, and the official federal holiday is observed on Monday, June 20. I hope these stories spark meaningful conversation among your family and friends. If you find them thought-provoking, please share them.

KaCeyKal! for Vox

Juneteenth isn’t just a celebration of freedom. It’s a monument to America’s failures.

The newest federal holiday observes the emancipation of enslaved people. Let it also be a time to consider the hypocrisies of the American experiment.

KaCeyKal! for Vox

Juneteenth merch is American consumerism at its most crass

From enslavement to the “Black tax,” Black people have been asked to pay for freedom for far too long.

KaCeyKal! for Vox

3 Black women couldn’t find a place their families felt safe. So they bought a town.

Freedom, Georgia, is a utopian vision for Black life in America.

KaCeyKal! for Vox

There’s no freedom without reparations

Keeping the promise of “40 acres and a mule” might have transformed life for Black Americans. A movement to secure payments for descendants of enslaved people rages on.