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Juneteenth: 7 Lesser-known black abolitionists

By Michael Gryboski, Editor
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), an African American poet, author, and lecturer known for her antislavery activism.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), an African American poet, author, and lecturer known for her antislavery activism. | Public Domain

Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates the day when U.S. Major Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, declaring the local slaves to be free.

The youngest federal holiday in the United States, becoming one when President Joe Biden signed a law in 2021, Juneteenth is also called Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Liberation Day.

The abolition of slavery was a generations-long struggle, which featured not only famous people like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth, but also many lesser-known figures who did their part to end the oppressive institution.

In honor of the Juneteenth holiday, here are seven notable African-American abolitionists that you might not have heard of yet.

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