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Trans-Affirming Juneteenth: A TransLash Guide

By TransLash Media

14 min read

Image Credit: JDawnInk

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There would be no Pride Month without Juneteenth! Learn more in our guide that connects the dots between Black and LGBTQ+ liberation.

Juneteenth, a federal holiday celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the “ending” of slavery in the U.S., is a time to unpack the intersection of Juneteenth and Pride Month. Explore our trans-affirming guide to Juneteenth below; we will be updating it annually, so let us know what you think!

By Cobbie Cobb and Daniela “Dani” Capistrano for TransLash Media

“Fighting for liberation — dismantling systems of oppression — matters most in my life and influences how I show up for my people and for myself in very intentional ways. Freedom, release, joy, peace, and contentment are things that we as Black folks have been robbed of for so many years, so focusing on liberation has become my life’s work.” – Dominique Morgan

There are many resources that exist about the history and legacy of Juneteenth, but very few of them center Black trans lives. And while we at TransLash declare that there would be no Pride Month without Juneteenth, we are certainly not the first people to say it:

Dominique Morgan, a Black trans woman and award-winning artist, activist, and TEDx speaker, wrote about her experiences of incarceration and why intersectionality and liberation of all Black people are crucial aspects of commemorating June 19.

Additionally, back in 2023, Karen Hewitt (Ze/Hir/She/Her), a Black queer and genderfluid musician, poet, and activist, shared that “June is about Civil Rights…Pride month could not exist as we know it if Juneteenth did not happen. It all comes together as we recognize that the most vulnerable of any group is generally the Black, Indigenous, and other members of color of this group.” 

Inspired by Morgan and Hewitt, we created this guide to center Black trans voices during Pride Month, while we explain why there would be no Pride Month without Juneteenth. 

Ready? Let’s get into it:

What Is Juneteenth?

Emancipation Day celebration, June 19, 1900 held in “East Woods” on East 24th Street in Austin. Credit: Austin History Center.

According to The Greenlining Institute, Juneteenth is a time to remember that our collective liberation must be intersectional. On Juneteenth National Independence Day, we celebrate Black people’s ongoing freedom from enslavement, and our evolving vision of freedom that White America could not see for us. 

Juneteenth is not a victory celebration, but a recognition of the diverse, multi-ethnic and multicultural Black communities all around the country who are descendants of enslaved people, and the legacies of their ancestors.

As Debra Gore-Mann (she/her/hers), President & CEO of The Greenlining Institute, so eloquently put it: when America only saw Black people as slaves, Black people made unseen things come true. This is what Juneteenth represents: a day of delayed emancipation a full two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had “freed” all enslaved people.

The National Museum of African American History & Culture has documented that on “Freedom’s Eve,” the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free Black people gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. 
At the stroke of midnight, all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were Black, marched onto plantations and across cities in the south reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation, spreading the news of freedom in Confederate States.

But only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States. Additionally, not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free; even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be realistically implemented in places still under Confederate control. 

“Freedom” finally came on June 19, 1865, when approximately 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free, by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed Black people in Texas. 

Juneteenth Didn’t Mean Immediate ‘Freedom’ for Black People

In many ways, Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day, but the fight for Black liberation, reparations, justice, and equity continues in 2024. 

Due to systemic anti-Blackness, white supremacy, the Prison Industrial Complex, homophobia and transphobia, ableism, and other barriers, Black people in America still don’t have the same freedoms as their white and non-Black counterparts.
The post-emancipation period known as Reconstruction (1865-1877) did bring about some change, but it has been inconsistent and often backwards.

In the first years of Reconstruction, many formerly enslaved Black people immediately sought to reunify with their families who were still alive, to establish schools, run for political office, and to push radical legislation––even suing slaveholders for compensation. After 200+ years of enslavement, not even a generation out of slavery, many newly freed Black people and their children were highly motivated to transform their lives and their country; for themselves and future generations. 

But all “free” Black people and their descendants had significant challenges to overcome…

In the decades that followed June 19, 1865, many anti-Black laws were passed to stack all the odds against Black communities to keep them from thriving and to uphold white supremacy: everything from where Black people could live, work, access healthcare, launch businesses and cultivate generational wealth, to even how they could express themselves academically, athletically, and in the arts. 

Many Black entertainers, writers, athletes, and other thought leaders left the United States to avoid anti-Black violence and to seek freedom and opportunity in other countries: James Baldwin and Josephine Baker are examples, just to name a few.

“One day I realized I was living in a country where I was afraid to be black. It was only a country for white people. Not black. So I left. I had been suffocating in the United States… A lot of us left, not because we wanted to leave, but because we couldn’t stand it anymore… I felt liberated in Paris.” – Josephine Baker

How free is a country that drives its most talented Black citizens to flee for their own safety? And why is this still happening in 2024? Let’s unpack this together:

We All Get Free When Black Trans People Are Free

There has never been an equal playing field in America for Black people, a reality felt most deeply by our Black queer and trans siblings.

At TransLash we believe that no one is free until Black trans people are free, in that a country’s actual level of freedom for all can be discerned by the way it treats its most marginalized of the marginalized. 

Through that lens, Black people and all people in America are far from free, which is why Juneteenth isn’t actually a celebration of freedom: it’s a reminder of the ongoing fight to liberate all Black people from all forms of systemic oppression, and to celebrate Black brilliance and resourcefulness despite the crushing forces of white supremacy.

Juneteenth, America’s youngest federal holiday, started to receive more visibility in mainstream media in 2020, in partial recognition of the horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many other Black people who have died at the hands of anti-Black law enforcement.

Among Black people, Black trans people are the most marginalized in every way: from access to employment, housing, healthcare, and in the disproportionate volume of violence that Black trans people face from cisgender people of all races, including Black cis people.

We cannot talk about Juneteenth without also talking about how centering and liberating Black trans people must be the focus during Pride Month and every month, whether you are Black or not.

There Would Be No Pride Month Without Juneteenth

Still not clear on why Pride Month stands on the shoulders of Juneteenth? We’re here to help, referencing Black trans-authored scholarship and activist resources:

In Black on Both Sides (2017), Dr. C. Riley Snorton identifies multiple intersections between Blackness and transness from the mid-nineteenth century to present-day anti-Black and anti-trans legislation and violence.

Drawing on a deep and varied archive of materials, Snorton attends to how slavery and the production of racialized gender provided the foundations for an understanding of gender as mutable.

Listen to Dr. Snorton on the “Talking Trans History with Trans Scholars” episode of TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones:

Black trans people have always been here, and Black trans women and femmes functioned as the first LGBTQ+ activists in America centuries before the Stonewall Riots. Here’s one example:

Frances Thompson was a Black trans woman, an anti-rape activist, and former slave whose remarkable courage and testimony before Congress marked a pivotal moment in the tumultuous aftermath of the Civil War.

During the deadly Memphis Riots of 1866 (one year after the first Juneteenth), Thompson’s experience and subsequent testimony shed light on the brutal realities faced by African Americans, particularly highlighting the vulnerabilities of Black trans people during this era.

Thomspon’s bravery also provided one of the earliest documented instances of transgender existence, intersecting with racial and post-emancipation struggles in the United States. 

Long before the Stonewall riots, and despite facing immense personal risk, Thompson’s willingness to publicly share her story contributed to the broader understanding of the intersectional challenges faced by Black and transgender communities, making her a significant figure in both the history of civil rights and transgender advocacy in the 19th century. 

Frances Thompson, a Black trans woman, leveraged the few freedoms she had in the aftermath of Juneteenth to fight for her own life and for others. She was bold enough to live in her truth, and her bravery to be out as trans before the language even existed to describe her, planted the seeds for modern LGBTQ+ activism today.“Juneteenth is a time to honor and continue fighting for this birthright. But it’s also a day to acknowledge the intersectionality of Black experiences,” wrote Dominique Morgan.

The Stonewall Riots and Pride Month stand on the shoulders of all Black people, in particular Black trans people, who continue to fight for their freedom on Juneteenth and beyond. 

There would be no Pride Month without Juneteenth.

Trans-Affirming Juneteenth Resources

Looking for more Juneteenth resources during Pride Month that center Black trans voices? We’ve compiled a bunch of great information for you below!

  • Funding & Other Resources for Black Trans People
    • ResolveMD
    • Illuminations Grant
      • The Illuminations Grant for Black Trans Women Visual Artists is an annual $10,000 grant awarded to provide critical support to Black trans women whose work has often been under-recognized in the visual art field
    • BEAM
      • Our mission is to remove the barriers that Black people experience getting access to or staying connected with emotional health care and healing through education, training, advocacy, and the creative arts.
    • Bridges 4 Life
      • Bridges4Life is an organization built on helping the Transgender Non-Conforming Community; by providing services to children in the foster care system, young adults, and surviving sex workers.
    • Black Trans Alliance
      • BTA is a black queer and trans led non-profit organization that supports black trans and non-binary people in London and the wider community.  BTA’s mission is to support, protect and amplify the voice of black transgender persons in London and the wider community; through advocacy, education, visibility and empowerment.
    • Black TransMen Inc
      • Top Surgery grant, black trans men, connects folks to additional resources.
    • Call BlackLine
      • Call BlackLine provides a space for peer support, counseling, reporting of mistreatment, witnessing and affirming the lived experiences for folxs who are most impacted by systematic oppression with an LGBTQ+ Black Femme Lens. 
    • Zepp Wellness
      • Founded in 2019 by Raquel Savage, a Black queer sex worker and therapist, that centers the mental health and healing needs of Black queer folks, survivors and sex workers. 
      • All services are free to the community and online—Zepp currently provides mental health coaching, a monthly sex worker support group, a fund for Black trans women sex workers, and a monthly sex worker therapist support group through our program the Equitable Care Certification, an AASECT-approved certification program for mental health professionals to provide unbiased care to their marginalized clients.
    • Black Trans Travel Funds
      • Grassroots, Black Trans led Collective providing Black transgender women with the financial and material resources needed to remove barriers to self-determining and accessing safer travel options.
    • Black Trans Nation
      • Black Trans Nation is a grass-roots organization, community created and therefore accountable to the community it serves. To serve our community, we advocate for our constituents- this advocacy is rooted in diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and equality.
    • National Black Trans Advocacy 
      • Black Trans Advocacy Coalition’s mission is to improve the black transhuman experience by overcoming violence and injustice through the power, value, and love of all people.
    • Black Trans Femmes Artists
      • Our mission is to create spaces for producing and preserving BLACK trans art and culture by building a community with BLACK trans femme artists and providing them with the resources and support necessary to thrive.
    • Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project
      • Offers support network to queer black immigrants and refugees
    • The Transgender District 
      • Helps trans folks start and build business in San Fran, CA
    • For the Gworls
      • a Black, trans-led collective that curates parties to fundraise money to help Black transgender people pay for their rent, gender-affirming surgeries, smaller co-pays for medicines/doctor’s visits, and travel assistance.

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