Dr. Charles Taylor Publishes Juneteenth: The Promise of Freedom Definitively Juneteenth (Part 2 of 2)
Dr. Charles Taylor has written two books about Juneteenth. The first assisted the National Juneteenth holiday movement to make its case and his current book places Juneteenth within the context of African American history
by Jonathan Gramling
It can’t help but feel that Madison has had an important impact on Juneteenth becoming a nationwide observance culminating President Joe Biden signing legislation making it a National Holiday. Dr. Ron Myers, who led the national effort to get the states to declare it a holiday or state observance studied for his medical degree in Madison. And an important collaborator, Dr. Charles Taylor, has called Madison home for over 45 years.
Taylor recently published Juneteenth: The Promise of Freedom. It is just his latest literary effort about Juneteenth. And having the book published around Juneteenth has meant an intense two months for Taylor.
“There have been too many phone interviews and speeches to count,” Taylor said. “I did at least 10 phone interviews. The first radio station I went on, apparently I did okay because they had me back on Juneteenth. I did a radio interview for a Black college in Virginia. And I did numerous newspaper and magazine articles. It’s been a whirlwind and I am so glad that I am finally getting a breather.”
The beauty of Taylor’s book is that it places Juneteenth within the context of African American history. It’s not an isolated incident to be remembered and celebrated. It is a point on the timeline of African American history.
“Juneteenth has been a life-long commitment because it’s necessary,” Taylor said. “I wrote this book because I wanted people to know the truth about our history. Our ancestors endured what no human being should ever have to endure. And yet they rose and they created. They survived. Yes we’ve made progress. We’ve climbed mountains that our ancestors could only dream of. But history has taught us a little lesson. Our victories and achievements, our gains are reversible and our progress is under constant threat of being swept away. Juneteenth teaches us that freedom is not a gift laid at our feet. It’s something that we have to work at every day. That’s why we press on. We press on not just to remember the promise of Juneteenth, but to fulfill it, not because it is easy, but because it is necessary. Not because we are guaranteed victory, but because surrender is not an option. We have to keep pressing on.”
For instance, with the Emancipation Proclamation and the slaves in Galveston, Texas learning they were legally free on June 19, 2025 wasn’t the end of the freedom struggle.
“The Confederates were opposed to Reconstruction violently and they created the terrorist organization Klu Klux Klan,” Taylor said. “And the Compromise of 1876 removed the federal troops from the South. And once the federal troops were gone, they gave Blacks two options. One was sharecropping, which meant that Blacks were ever poor and in debt. And the second was even worse. It was called Convict Leasing. Blacks could be arrested for vagrancy and without a trial, without pay, they would be assigned to plantations and factories and mines. The whole rebuilding of the South came about because of convict-leased labor. The Southern States’ greatest income for about 20 years was from convict leasing. And so that criminalized Black bodies and led to the whole perception of Blacks as criminals because of this action by the South.”
It’s a story about African American history that continues into the present.
“There are lessons to be learned from divide and conquer from today’s political climate,” Taylor said. “That is why the promise has never been fulfilled because after Baker’s Rebellion when the lower-class Whites and lower-class Blacks were forever separated, the divide and conquer game has been played. Until that changes, the promise won’t be fulfilled until this country creates our history with honesty and with urgency. And I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I say that people who read my book, there’s a quote that says, ‘The Juneteenth Celebration should celebrate, educate and agitate.’ It’s not a catchy slogan. It’s a framework for honoring the past. We celebrate the past by telling the truth. We educate with demands for a better future. And we agitate by the action that we are taking against institutionalized racism. By celebrating without education, freedom is empty. That’s why Juneteenth is also a teaching moment. And when I talk to people around the country, I tell them to always teach the full history of Juneteenth starting with Africa before slavery. We’re more than the enslavement period. We’re more than the bondage that we had to go through. We have a rich history. African history is fundamental to world history. And so it is very important that we include that in the celebration as well.”
Taylor’s book and the under construction National Juneteenth Museum in Texas have connections.
“I strongly urge people to buy it directly from my publisher,” Taylor said. “They are at www.drctaylor.com. A percentage of every purchase goes to the National Juneteenth Museum. That way it will be assured that the museum will get a donation. They won’t get a large cut if they go through bookstores or Amazon. I hope people will support the book. By supporting the book, they support the museum. But more importantly, they will learn the truth about their history and pass it on to their friends, their families, their colleagues. That’s why I wrote it. I wanted people to know the truth about our history. People are going to be amazed, as Dr. Ben Certain says. ‘It’s not necessary to create myths about Africa. The truth itself is more astonishing than any myth that we could ever create.’ So I just hope that people will read it.”
We must understand the past to blaze a path to the future. Juneteenth: The Promise of Freedom is a guiding light to that future path.
