Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025
A new report by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University examines Texas public opinion on the Juneteenth holiday and the impact of the legacy of slavery on the position of Black people in American society today.
Juneteenth is a Federal and Texas State holiday (on June 19) to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. June 19, 1865 was the day that Union forces in Galveston formally announced the end of slavery in the Lone Star State.
Juneteenth has been celebrated annually since 1866. In 1979, Texas became the first state in the country to make Juneteenth a state holiday with the passage of legislation authored by Democratic State Representative Al Edwards of Houston (a graduate of Texas Southern University) and signed into law by Republican Governor Bill Clements. Juneteenth became a federal holiday more than forty years later in 2021.
This new report found 25% of Texans report knowing a great deal about the Juneteenth holiday and 31% a fair amount, with 21% knowing a little bit and 11% nothing at all about the holiday.
After being provided with additional information about the Juneteenth holiday, 77% of Texans say that they think it is important (43% very important and 30% somewhat important) for Americans to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday, with only 23% of Texans of the opinion that recognizing the holiday is either not too important (14%) or not important at all (9%).
Dr. Michael O. Adams, the founding director of the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University, commented that “recognition of Juneteenth is especially important to Black Texans, with 78% saying it is very important for Americans to recognize Juneteenth and another 17% that is somewhat important.” Adams further noted that “Juneteenth is a holiday that has special significance to Black Texans given its origin in Galveston and Texas being the first state to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday.”
The study also found that 40% of Texans believe the legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people in America today a great deal, with another 26% of the opinion that the legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people a fair amount. While 82% of Black Texans believe the legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people a great deal, the same is only true for 38% of Latino Texans and 31% of White Texans.
The full report can be found via this link. The representative survey of Texas registered voters upon which the report is based was conducted between May 9 and May 19 2025, in English and Spanish, and has a sample size of 1,200 and a margin of error of +/- 2.8%.
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