Friday June 19 marks the 150th anniversary of “Juneteenth.” It is the common term for the day that Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and issued an order announcing that “in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

The episode occurred two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. But in an era of limited communications, many former slaves had not yet heard the news. The occasion was marked by singing, dancing and barbecues. Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas in 1979.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) planned to mark Juneteenth by holding a joint news conference Friday with the Montgomery-based nonprofit, Equal Justice Initiative, followed by a commemoration at noon in the Institute rotunda.

In an interview with Alabama NewsCenter’s John Herr, Priscilla Hancock Cooper, BCRI interim president and CEO, shared her thoughts about the significance of Juneteenth, 150 years later.

Priscilla Hancock Cooper, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute interim president and CEO

Why is it important to commemorate Juneteenth?

Cooper: Freedom and liberty are the bedrock values of our nation. And that date marked when enslaved people in Texas found out about the Emancipation Proclamation. This year also marks the 150th anniversary of 13th amendment that ended slavery in the United States. This era in our history is something that people are hesitant to discuss; it’s not a part of our past that we really want to reflect on. However, that history continues to have ramifications today. And understanding the institution and legacy of slavery can really help us in the understanding of race relations in our country in 2015.

The original proclamation from General Granger said that “this involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.” Obviously, that did not happen anytime soon. Tell me your thoughts on that dream deferred.

Cooper: I think one of the things that we have difficulty grasping is the multi-generational impact of that lack of economic equality, and the implications of what would have been different had those individuals been able to receive payment for their labor, been allowed to build businesses, been allowed to do all those things. What would be the legacy for their descendants now? I think that’s a tough one for us to come to grips with as a nation.

Education has always been seen as a steppingstone to equality in the African-American community. At one time in the nation, if you worked hard and got a good education, then you could pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and have access. I think that, as we see growing concern about the status of our public schools, equity in education is one of the biggest contemporary issues – and some would say it is the civil rights issue of our time.

The fact that race continues to be a social determinant in our country – right now around issues of community and law enforcement, but also in economics and education, where people live, the impact of poverty – there are so many things that race still impacts.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and museum is very powerful. I’m always stunned when I read those old Birmingham segregation ordinances. Then I think about the recent commemorations of the Selma-to-Montgomery March, when we had an African-American president come to Selma and people of all colors were respectful. We even have an airport in Birmingham named after a civil rights leader, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. Tell me about the progress you’ve seen in your lifetime, and how Birmingham in particular has progressed.

Cooper: The drum I’ve been beating, and I really believe this, is that Birmingham has lessons to teach the country, particularly around issues of progress. Not that we don’t continue to grapple with serious issues, particularly as we look at the re-segregation of our schools and our neighborhoods. However, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute itself stands as a monument to this community’s willingness to examine its history and to use the lessons of that history to move it forward. And that’s no small thing.

There are many lessons to be learned from the Birmingham movement. From the fact that ordinary citizens can in fact create dynamic social change, to the lesson of non-violent social protests, which is what a lot of our international visitors are really interested in: how do you change a system without the nation disintegrating into all-out violence or civil war? So that issue of non-violent social change is very important.

It’s hard for young people particularly to understand what it meant for people to be willing to stand up and say, “Segregation has to end; I’m not going to take it anymore.” They were in fact putting their lives and livelihoods on the line. Young people are quick to say, “I wouldn’t have taken that!” But they really don’t understand the context of the times and how courageous these people were.

The Birmingham movement really was built on the commitment of young people. It was young people who came out of schools and poured into the streets to claim their right to equality. But it also galvanized the country and brought the focus of the country to the issue of segregation.

And then, of course, the loss of young lives on September 15th, the four girls at the church and the other young men we’re beginning to hear about who were murdered in separate incidents. The fact that young people, our children, became sacrificial lambs, became the targets of hate, is a reminder of the power of children on the one hand, and our responsibility to protect them on the other. So there are so many lessons to be learned from what happened here.

Today’s slayings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in which it appears that people were murdered simply because of their race – what are your thoughts?

Cooper: It is a tragedy, and I’ll be honest with you, I’m still processing it, I’m still grappling with it. I feel so many things about it. But it’s a reminder that there are still people whose hatred rises to the level of violence. We’ve seen in our nation these incidents of horrendous mass homicides that always raise questions about why.

I heard Bishop James Davis (who oversees the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Alabama) on television this morning, and I appreciated what he said when he was asked a question about what his sermon will be on Sunday. He said that people of faith, Christians, people who are in church cannot become paranoid because we are people of faith and we do move forward.

I am happy that the gunman was apprehended. I am sad that whatever was going on in his mind and in his heart moved him to commit such a horrendous act. Our hearts go out to the families and friends and the whole community that was impacted.

About Juneteenth, we’ve seen a resurgence of commemorations of Juneteenth in the last 10 years or so. Why do you think that is, and are you happy about that?

Cooper: I’m happy about anything that draws positive attention to African-American history, which is in fact American history. I’m not sure whether there are more commemorations or whether they have just made their way into the mainstream media vision, because we’ve been commemorating Juneteenth at the Institute for a couple of decades. But I also think perhaps we have reached a point in our history when we are more willing to look at slavery and the impact of that legacy of slavery in our country.