The Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday commemorating the St. Louis Freedom Suits Memorial in the Civil Courts Building courtyard was held on a day that was likely like one in Galveston, Texas exactly 159 years earlier on June 19, 1865.
No doubt it was probably hot.
On that day, 2,000 calvary soldiers rode into Galveston to inform Black Americans that they were free. It was over two months after the Confederacy surrendered unconditionally, ending the Civil War.
It was necessary because the state of Texas chose not to share the news with former slaves and keep them in bondage.
From 1814-1860, 300 enslaved African Americans filed freedom suits aided by pro bono attorneys under the legal precedent “once free always free,” 22nd Judicial Court Judge David C. Mason said as the sun blazed down on guest and speakers, which were moved to a shady area.
Mason was instrumental in the creation of the Freedom Suits Memorial, which was sculpted by Preston Jackson and unveiled on June 21, 2022. He also founded the Freedom Suits Memorial Foundation.
“We come here today again to celebrate our history, the history of those that sought freedom; not in a fight but in a courtroom,” Mason said.
“When you walk by this monument speak their names. Make sure they are no longer kept in the dust bin of our history.”
On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed a law declaring Juneteenth (June 19) the 11th federal holiday. Opal Lee, then 89, of Marshall, Texas and others marched from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C. in 2016 to advance the quest to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
The 1,400-mile journey did not include Missouri, but Mason said the state and city of St. Louis played an integral role in freedom for Black Americans throughout the nation.
“It was right here that judges said, ‘these folks have the right to have their cases sent to a jury,’” Mason explained.
“They abided protections for them and declared ‘if you prevail, you will be free.’ That took strength from judge and lawyers.”
Mason added that “freedom suits continue today.”
“Just as went to court to prove they were free, we have cases [that are similar,] Mason said about his vacating the sentence of Lamar Johnson in 2023. Mason ruled that Johnson’s attorneys provided “reliable evidence of actual innocence – evidence so reliable that it actually passes the standard of clear and convincing.”
“The law says you’re free, so you have got to be free,” Mason said.
