The Financial Significance of Juneteenth

Takeaways: Juneteenth and Black Financial Health

• Juneteenth marks the delayed announcement of freedom for enslaved Black people in the U.S. and remains a time for reflection, learning and celebration.
• Black financial health has been shaped by centuries of systemic barriers, including slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, redlining and limits on property ownership.
• Violence and discriminatory policies repeatedly disrupted Black wealth-building, including attacks on prosperous Black communities such as Greenwood in Tulsa.
• Voting barriers limited Black Americans' ability to influence laws and policies that affected access to resources, representation and economic opportunity.
• BECU employees Brian I. and Darius A. connect Juneteenth to the ongoing work of financial equity and community progress.

Juneteenth: Freedom Day

Freedom is central to the story of the United States. Americans are legally entitled to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, a free press and the freedom to assemble peaceably, according to the U.S. Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791.

But those freedoms didn't begin to apply to Black people for many years after the nation was founded, and oppressive systems and structures exist to this day.

While Juneteenth marks the delayed announcement of freedom, it also represents the long struggle for equal access to rights, resources and financial opportunity.

Brian I., senior product designer in BECU's design studio, said he thinks of Juneteenth as more than a moment in history: “Juneteenth signifies the very beginnings of the struggle towards true liberation from the shackles of inequity."

With BECU's focus on financial health, Juneteenth is a good time to celebrate Black Americans' freedom while reflecting on some of the significant historical events that created long-lasting barriers to Black financial health and wealth.

Freedom Didn't Mean Equity

Historical records suggest Africans were captured, enslaved and brought to the part of North America that would become the United States as early as 1526.

For more than 400 years, the U.S. economy and white Americans' wealth — in some cases, enormous wealth — were built with the unpaid labor of the Black people they enslaved.

The Emancipation Proclamation, signed in 1863 during the American Civil War, ordered the release of enslaved people in the Confederate South. But the timeline and path were slow and brutal for the 4 million people to whom freedom was promised.

It wouldn't be until June 19, 1865, two and half years after the proclamation was issued, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and finally announce the freedom of enslaved people. That day is celebrated as Juneteenth.

For Darius A., director of BECU account and card operations, that history is why Juneteenth should remain a day of learning and reflection. “We can't let Juneteenth just become another day off,” Darius said, adding that it is important to “continue the dialogue, share the history of Juneteenth and the why behind the celebration.”

Both houses of Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, officially abolishing slavery.

Although Black people were legally free, their release didn't immediately come with other rights, protections or resources to ensure their survival, much less their success.

That long process is part of why both employees said it is important to keep talking about Juneteenth and the history behind it.

Built-In Barriers

During Reconstruction, the period following the Civil War, Southern states enacted Black codes that restricted the kinds of work Black people could do and required them to sign labor contracts with landowners. The penalty for refusing to sign or complete a contract was beating, arrest and unpaid labor. Those who were arrested were often sent to labor camps where they were treated as enslaved people.

By the 1880s, segregation laws, called Jim Crow laws, expanded, limiting where Black people could go, where they could live and their access to services and resources. Black people weren't allowed to use white water fountains, restrooms, building entrances and waiting areas. Black people also couldn't live in white neighborhoods or attend white schools.

Brian connected that history directly to financial health: “Black people had to build economic systems from scratch, without the luxury of generational wealth and capital,” he said. “Freedom to build wealth was not instant and was actively limited by Black Codes, Jim Crow, redlining and many other discriminatory practices.”

Meanwhile, white landowners continued to amass wealth and pass it on to their heirs.

Attacks on Black Wealth and Progress

In addition to oppressive laws and policies, deadly violence was used to stamp out Black progress.

In the summer of 1919, following the end of World War I, attacks on Black people broke out in Washington, D.C. and spread across the country in what is known as the Red Summer.

The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 was a direct attack on Black wealth. It is still considered one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history. Hundreds of Black residents were killed, and 1,000 houses were destroyed in just 18 hours when a white mob attacked Greenwood, Oklahoma, near Tulsa, an area that had become a thriving center of Black prosperity.

Known as Black Wall Street, Greenwood included law offices, medical practices, luxury shops, restaurants, movie theaters, barbershops and salons. It had its own school system, post office, bank and bus service.

Restrictions on Property Ownership

Land and home ownership is one of the most common ways to build wealth in America, but opportunities for Black people to own property and build wealth from equity have been blocked or limited for much of U.S. history.

Darius pointed to property ownership as one clear example of how access can shape long-term financial opportunity.

“Ownership can be the key to unlocking wealth,” Darius said.

When the Civil War ended, the federal government confiscated land from Confederate landowners and granted 40 acres and a mule to thousands of formerly enslaved Black people. This was intended to be a way for Black people to provide for themselves and start working toward financial independence. But President Andrew Johnson reversed the order on April 14, 1865, just three months after it had been issued, and the land was returned to Confederate landowners.

The practice of sharecropping became prominent. Black people rented small plots of land that they would work themselves and give a portion of their harvest to the landowner. Some sharecroppers were able to eventually rent or own their own land, but many more went into debt and extreme poverty, according to History.com.

In the 1930s, redlining policy was enacted: The federal government sought to address a housing shortage at that time by providing suburban housing to white families and pushing Black families into urban housing projects.

The Federal Housing Administration refused to insure mortgages in and near Black neighborhoods while subsidizing developments for white people only. The government created a grading system, largely based on race, to evaluate neighborhoods' mortgage lending risk. Neighborhoods where people of color lived were marked in red on maps to indicate the highest risk.

The U.S. tax structure also continues to magnify the racial wealth gap, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That's because wealth (money and property already owned and earning interest) isn't taxed as heavily as income from work (wages, salaries and employer-provided benefits).

Barriers to Black Voting

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted Black men voting rights in 1870, but, with the end of Reconstruction in the late 1870s, many Southern states enacted laws that effectively reversed the rights the 15th Amendment granted, along with citizenship rights granted by the 14th Amendment.

For decades, segregation, poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation and violence were used to block Black people from voting. Not being able to participate in the democratic process meant their needs weren't represented. Lawmakers continued to enact laws that left out Black people and kept power and wealth concentrated among white men.

The Voting Rights Act, signed into law in 1965, 95 years after the adoption of the 15th Amendment, was intended to remove barriers to Black voting, but it wasn't well enforced, and, in some cases, it was willfully ignored.

Voter suppression is still an issue, with states enacting laws that make it harder for people to vote. These voter suppression laws disproportionately affect people of color, poor people, young adults and older people.

Path to Equity

Despite ongoing efforts to achieve equity, barriers to Black wealth throughout U.S. history have had long-lasting effects. Today, Black families in the U.S. have $352,000 in average wealth compared with $1.5 million on average for white families, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

From his perspective working at a financial institution, Brian said Juneteenth raises a question that remains relevant today: “What does freedom mean without ownership or access to capital?”

Both employees observe Juneteenth as a day of celebration and connection. Darius spends the day with family and gives back in his community. Brian also spends time with his community and loved ones, attends cookouts and art exhibits, and participates in community service and philanthropic events.

Darius finds hope, meaning and gratitude in Juneteenth. “I find hope in those who have come before me and overcame so that I can succeed in life,” he said, adding, “I owe a lot to those who fought the good fight before me.”

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