It's not that surprising when you consider the vernacular accent of slaves in Texas at the time.
This is an exact transcription from the Library of Congress, from an interview with a slave in 1833 (I picked a random passage):
Ole Boss he send us niggahs out in any kine ob weathah, rain o' snow, it nebbah mattah. We had t' go t' de mountings, cut wood an' drag it down t' de house. Many de time we come in wif ouh cloes stuck t' ouh poah ole cold bodies, but 'twarn't no use t' try t' git 'em dry. Ef de Ole Boss o' de Ole Missie see us dey yell: "Git on out ob heah yo' black thin', an' git yo' wok outen de way!" An' Lawdy, honey, we knowed t' git, else we get de lash. Dey did'n cah how ole o' how young yo' wah, yo' nebbah too big t' git de lash.
You can pretty clearly see the effect of no literacy, and only learning English from a rural Ulster-Scott dialect.
"June Nineteenth" would probably have been a bit of a mouthful. Something akin to "Joo ne nen ten nen th". It's a lot easier to say: "Joon TEENF".
Someone who needs to say " T'warn't " is going to contract "June Nineteenth" to "Juneteenth"
It's not that surprising when you consider the vernacular accent of slaves in Texas at the time.
This is an exact transcription from the Library of Congress, from an interview with a slave in 1833:
Ole Boss he send us niggahs out in any kine ob weathah, rain o' snow, it nebbah mattah. We had t' go t' de mountings, cut wood an' drag it down t' de house. Many de time we come in wif ouh cloes stuck t' ouh poah ole cold bodies, but 'twarn't no use t' try t' git 'em dry. Ef de Ole Boss o' de Ole Missie see us dey yell: "Git on out ob heah yo' black thin', an' git yo' wok outen de way!" An' Lawdy, honey, we knowed t' git, else we get de lash. Dey did'n cah how ole o' how young yo' wah, yo' nebbah too big t' git de lash.
You can pretty clearly see the effect of no literacy, and only learning English from a rural Ulster-Scott dialect.
"June Nineteenth" would probably have been a bit of a mouthful. Something akin to "Joo ne nen ten nen th". It's a lot easier to say: "Joon TEENF".
Someone who needs to say " T'warn't " is going to contract "June Nineteenth" to "Juneteenth"
It's not that surprising when you consider the vernacular accent of slaves in Texas at the time.
This is an exact transcription from the Library of Congress, from an interview with a slave in 1833:
Ole Boss he send us niggahs out in any kine ob weathah, rain o' snow, it nebbah mattah. We had t' go t' de mountings, cut wood an' drag it down t' de house. Many de time we come in wif ouh cloes stuck t' ouh poah ole cold bodies, but 'twarn't no use t' try t' git 'em dry. Ef de Ole Boss o' de Ole Missie see us dey yell: "Git on out ob heah yo' black thin', an' git yo' wok outen de way!" An' Lawdy, honey, we knowed t' git, else we get de lash. Dey did'n cah how ole o' how young yo' wah, yo' nebbah too big t' git de lash.
You can pretty clearly see the effect of no literacy, and only learning English from a rural Ulster-Scott dialect.
"June Nineteenth" would probably have been a bit of a mouthful. Something akin to "Joo ne nen ten th". It's a lot easier to say: "Joon TEENF".
Someone who needs to say " T'warn't " is going to contract "June Nineteenth" to "Juneteenth"