Why Juneteenth Matters in Northern Minnesota - AND EVERYWHERE
- Emily Thabes
- Jun 19
- 6 min read
By Emily Thabes, Executive Director
To some, Juneteenth may seem far away, something that happened elsewhere, to other people, long ago. History does not belong only to those who lived it firsthand; it belongs to all of us and still shapes us.
What Is Juneteenth?
Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, with news that changed everything: the Civil War was over, and all enslaved people were free. This was the first time many enslaved people of Texas had heard of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued more than two years earlier.
The delay was deliberate. Slaveholders had withheld the news, and the federal government had been slow to enforce emancipation in the farthest reaches of the Confederacy. People who should have been free continued to labor in bondage for over two years, continued to be bought and sold, and continued to watch their children grow up in chains. Families remained separated while dreams remained deferred and freedom remained a promise unfulfilled.
The response was immediate and joyous when the news finally came. Enslaved people left plantations, searched for family members, celebrated in the streets, and began the long work of building lives as free people. They also quickly learned that legal freedom and true equality were not the same thing, and the end of slavery did not mean the end of racism, violence, or economic exploitation.
That day became known as Juneteenth (a combination of "June" and "nineteenth"), and it represents both the joy of liberation and the painful reality that freedom can be delayed, denied, or incomplete.
The Minnesota Connection
Beltrami County is physically distant from the cotton fields of Texas or the auction blocks of New Orleans, but we are not removed from the consequences of slavery or the legacy of the Civil War. Minnesota was the first state to offer volunteer troops to the Union cause. Our regiments fought on the front lines at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and beyond, and when the war ended, some of those veterans made their homes here.
A prominent section of the Greenwood Cemetery in Bemidji holds the graves of 43 Civil War soldiers from ten Union states. Their lives and service are memorialized by a granite obelisk and a bronze statue of a Union infantryman, visible reminders that the fight for a more just nation reached even into the pine forests of northern Minnesota.
Freeman Doud was one of those soldiers. He settled with his wife, Betsy, on the south shore of Lake Bemidji, where Diamond Point Park stands today. He helped establish the R.H. Carr Post of the Grand Army of the Republic and worked to ensure that Civil War veterans would have a burial ground and that their service would not be forgotten.
The story becomes more complex when we acknowledge the whole truth of what happened after those soldiers returned home. Many of the same men who fought for the Union and helped end the enslavement of Black Americans came to northern Minnesota during a time of devastating conflict with Native American communities. The Dakota War of 1862 and its aftermath brought military action, forced removals, and systemic oppression to Indigenous peoples, and some Union veterans participated in or witnessed these injustices, while many who championed abolition simultaneously supported policies that broke treaties, stole Native lands, and displaced entire communities.
The contradiction is stark: soldiers who risked their lives to free enslaved people could return home and participate in the dispossession of Native peoples without seeing the hypocrisy. The same President and government that issued the Emancipation Proclamation simultaneously orchestrated the largest mass execution in U.S. history (the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato in 1862), and many of the same voices that condemned the moral evil of slavery remained silent or actively supported the seizure of Indigenous homelands.
Juneteenth is not just about soldiers; it is about those who had no choice but to wait for freedom to come. It is about mothers and fathers who could not protect their children from being sold and about people whose labor built the foundations of this country, yet who were denied the most basic recognition of their humanity. It is also about understanding that this same dehumanization was simultaneously being used to justify the removal and oppression of Native peoples.
To observe Juneteenth is to say: We remember. We remember not just the triumph, but the injustice; not just the end of slavery, but its centuries of brutality. It means honoring the pain as well as the perseverance, and making space for the stories we were never taught, including the stories of how racism against Black Americans and Native Americans are interconnected parts of the same system.
The Importance of Preserving Hard History
The Beltrami County Historical Society believes that history belongs to everyone, but belonging requires honesty.
Preserving history is not simply about celebrating the past; it's about telling the truth even when the truth is uncomfortable and even when it challenges the stories we've grown used to hearing. This is especially important when the truth is hard to face.
Slavery was not incidental to the founding of the United States; it was foundational. The economy, laws, and politics of this country were shaped by the enslavement of Black people for over 200 years, and the effects of that system (displacement, generational poverty, racial violence, and institutional exclusion) did not disappear when the last enslaved people were freed in 1865. Instead, they were transformed in many ways.
The same racist ideologies that justified slavery also justified the seizure of Native lands and the destruction of Indigenous communities. Both systems of oppression relied on the fundamental belief that some people were less human than others, a belief that continues to manifest in different forms today.
Juneteenth invites us to look directly at this history, even when it's uncomfortable and even when it challenges stories we've grown used to hearing. It raises questions about why so many Americans still struggle to access the full promises of liberty, and it connects us (no matter where we live) to the ongoing story of freedom in America.
Looking back, we can see something that some of those Civil War veterans could not or would not see then: that the fight for human dignity cannot be selective. Justice for one community means justice for all communities, and the same systems of oppression that held Black Americans in bondage also drove Native Americans from their homelands and continue to shape inequality today.
Juneteenth is not just about the past; it is also about now.
Racist hate still exists here. Some of it displays itself through symbols and identifiers (patches, tattoos, and coded messages not unlike those used by the KKK), some of it hides behind usernames, and some of it shows up in quieter ways through casual slurs in a grocery store aisle, a hateful comment on social media, or a silence that follows injustice instead of challenging it. It affects Black community members, Native community members, LGBTQ+ community members, and all people who face marginalization in Beltrami County.
Commemorating Juneteenth in places like Bemidji matters because the struggle for freedom and dignity continues for all marginalized communities. The story of Juneteenth reminds us that injustice thrives when truth is delayed or denied, and that real freedom requires ongoing vigilance, empathy, and action.
How to Observe Juneteenth in Beltrami County
We do not need to have grown up with Juneteenth to recognize its meaning. We do not need to be Black to honor Black history, and we do not need to be Southern to remember the long road from slavery to freedom.
Here are a few ways to observe the day:
Learn the true timeline of emancipation, and reflect on why Juneteenth is necessary.
Visit the Civil War section of Greenwood Cemetery, and remember the complexity of that war: it saved the Union but only slowly and unevenly ended slavery.
Explore the stories of Black soldiers, workers, and families who fought for a country that often refused to fight for them.
Discuss with your loved ones how freedom, justice, and memory are still evolving in the United States.
Join the Bemidji Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday, June 19, from 4 to 7 PM at Diamond Point Park. Enjoy music, food, education, and community.
A Living History
Juneteenth is not just about the past; it's about the present. It's about ensuring we don't repeat history's mistakes by pretending they never happened. It's about listening, learning, and growing together.
Freedom isn't a destination you reach once and forget about.
This June 19, we might remember that justice takes time and requires people willing to do the work. We can honor those who waited for freedom and those who continue to wait for full equality and dignity. We can tell their stories fully and truthfully, and we can continue building a community where all people (Black, Native, LGBTQ+, and every person who calls this place home) can live with dignity, safety, and genuine belonging. -EDT