How have African Americans commemorated emancipation, and what do Freedom Days mean?
Topic 2.24 Freedom Days: Commemorating the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom: how African Americans have commemorated emancipation through Freedom Days such as Juneteenth, and what these commemorations mean.
A focused answer to AP African American Studies Topic 2.24, explaining how African Americans have commemorated emancipation through Freedom Days such as Juneteenth, the meaning of these commemorations, and how they mark both the achievement and the unfinished nature of freedom.
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What this topic is asking
Topic 2.24 closes Unit 2 with memory and commemoration: how African Americans have remembered and celebrated emancipation through Freedom Days such as Juneteenth. The College Board wants you to understand these commemorations as marking both the achievement of freedom and its incompleteness, the "ongoing struggle" of the topic's title.
Freedom Days and commemoration
Juneteenth
Achievement and incompleteness
The deepest point of the topic is that Freedom Days hold two meanings at once.
On one hand, they celebrate a world-changing achievement: the end of legal slavery, won partly through Black people's own action, as the Civil War topic showed. On the other, they mark incompleteness. Freedom arrived late (as Juneteenth's delay shows) and was followed by new systems of oppression, segregation, disfranchisement, and violence, so the struggle for genuine equality continued.
This dual meaning, often expressed as the "ongoing struggle," is why the unit ends here. Commemoration is both joyful and a call to continue the work, connecting the history of slavery and resistance to the freedom struggles that follow in later units.
Try this
Q1. What does Juneteenth commemorate, and why is the date significant? [Recall]
- Cue. It commemorates 19 June 1865, when news of emancipation reached the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, highlighting how late and unevenly freedom arrived.
Q2. Explain why Freedom Days emphasize an ongoing struggle rather than a finished one. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Emancipation was delayed and incomplete and was followed by new systems of oppression such as segregation and disfranchisement, so Freedom Days honor both the freedom won and the continuing work needed to achieve full equality.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2024 (style)3 marksUsing a source about a Juneteenth celebration, complete the following. A) Identify what Juneteenth commemorates. B) Describe ONE way African Americans have commemorated emancipation. C) Explain ONE reason Freedom Days emphasize an ongoing struggle rather than a finished one.Show worked answer →
A source-based Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per part.
A. Juneteenth commemorates 19 June 1865, when news of emancipation reached the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
B. African Americans have commemorated emancipation through local Freedom Days, parades, religious services, music, food, and community gatherings, and Juneteenth became a national holiday in 2021.
C. Freedom Days stress an ongoing struggle because emancipation was delayed, incomplete, and followed by new forms of oppression, so the commemorations honor both what was won and the work that remained.
Each part needs a specific, accurate claim.
AP 2025 (style)6 marksDevelop an argument that evaluates the extent to which Freedom Days commemorate both the achievement and the incompleteness of freedom. Use specific evidence to support your argument.Show worked answer →
An argument-style free-response question, scored on a rubric rewarding thesis, evidence, and reasoning.
Thesis: "Freedom Days commemorate both the achievement of emancipation and its incompleteness, celebrating freedom won while marking the delays, limits, and continuing struggle that followed."
Evidence: the delayed arrival of freedom in Texas marked by Juneteenth; the variety of local Freedom Days; Juneteenth's 2021 elevation to a national holiday amid renewed struggles for racial justice.
Reasoning: weigh celebration against unfinished business, showing commemoration as both joyful and a call to continue the work.
Related dot points
- Topic 2.23 The Civil War and Black Communities: how African Americans, enslaved and free, shaped the Civil War and their own emancipation through flight, military service, and labor.
A focused answer to AP African American Studies Topic 2.23, explaining how African Americans, enslaved and free, shaped the Civil War and their own emancipation through self-liberation, military service in the United States Colored Troops, and labor, and the meaning of the Emancipation Proclamation.
- Topic 2.10 Black Pride, Identity, and the Question of Naming: how the terms people of African descent have used for themselves have changed over time and reflect shifting ideas of identity and pride.
A focused answer to AP African American Studies Topic 2.10, explaining how the names people of African descent have used for themselves, from African and Colored to Negro, Black, and African American, have shifted over time and reflect changing ideas of identity, dignity, and pride.
- Topic 2.20 Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad: the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad as networks that fought slavery and helped enslaved people escape to freedom.
A focused answer to AP African American Studies Topic 2.20, explaining the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, the network of secret routes and safe houses that helped enslaved people escape, the leadership of figures such as Harriet Tubman, and the role of the Fugitive Slave Act.
- Topic 2.9 Creating African American Culture: how enslaved people blended diverse African traditions into a new African American culture in religion, music, language, food, and family.
A focused answer to AP African American Studies Topic 2.9, explaining how enslaved people created a distinctive African American culture by blending diverse African traditions in religion, music such as spirituals, language, foodways, and kinship, and how this culture functioned as both survival and resistance.
Sources & how we know this
- AP African American Studies Course and Exam Description — College Board (2024)