Bill Nye, the ‘Science Guy,’ made the error of claiming Juneteenth was the day slavery was abolished in America, prompting online users to warn the popular TV educator to brush up on his history.
Nye, who is best known for his educational 90s television show of the same name, made the claim in a tweet on Sunday afternoon, in a message in which the 66-year-old attempted to ring in the Christmas season with some historical knowledge.
President Biden declared the occasion a federal holiday last year to celebrate the emancipation of slaves in the United States.
The date, however, is usually seen as symbolic, because slavery was still legal in numerous states at the time, and slaves were not formally liberated until December 1865, when the 13th Amendment fully banned the practice.
In reality, the day commemorates news of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation reaching still-Confederate-run Texas via US Union General Gordon Granger, two years earlier.
The army declared that Lincoln’s famous presidential proclamation would release the state’s more than 250,000 enslaved African people. The newly freed inhabitants of Texas began to refer to the day as ‘Juneteenth.’
‘The United States we know today was built with the work of enslaved Black Americans,’ Nye, 66, said in a post that accompanied a selfie of the actor clutching a pocket-sized US Constitution on Sunday, June 19.
‘The last were not officially freed until 19 June 1865,’ he continued. ‘Let us rejoice, and let us never forget.’
The statement provoked a social media reaction almost immediately, with many users quick to remind out that slavery was not fully abolished for another six months.
‘This isn’t accurate,’ one person said shortly after Nye made the allegation.
Nye was told to open the Constitution he was clutching and fact-check his claim by a slightly more mischievous spectator.
‘Please open that and tell us when the 13th amendment to the constitution was approved,’ the user added, adding, ‘Hint: it’s not June 19th.’
Others listed states that had not abolished slavery as of June 19, 1865, because they were not covered by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued eight months earlier.
Current Vice President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware was not included in the historic guidance.
‘Too bad Bill Nye was wrong,’ one commenter said. ‘It wasn’t until the 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865 that the last enslaved people were freed.’ Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Missouri were not included in the Emancipation Proclamation. Bill, you should read a history book.’
‘Actually, the final slaves were not freed in Kentucky and Delaware (@JoeBiden’s home state) until the 13th Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865,’ according to another.
When the 13th Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865, it came to an end. Until that day, slavery was still legal in the “northern” states of Delaware and Kentucky.’
Another user pointed out that the day commemorates General Granger’s delivery of news of emancipation and the end of the Civil War to Galveston, Texas, two and a half years after the conflict ended.
‘This isn’t correct. The 13th Amendment isn’t commemorated on Juneteenth,’ the armchair historian wrote.
‘It recalls the arrival in Texas of news of the Emancipation Proclamation.’ Slavery existed in two union states until December 1865.’
Slaves were formally freed after the 13th Amendment, a federal guidance that permanently amended the Constitution and outlawed slavery, was passed in December 1865.
It’s worth noting that slavery was still prevalent after the amendment was ratified, with human trafficking continuing to this day.
Nye, whose show was cancelled after a five-year run in 1998, has yet to respond to the barrage of corrections leveled at him in the wake of his false statement.
It’s not the first time the ostensible science expert has dispensed advice to fans.
In May 2019, he threw an a profanity-laden tirade in a video played on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which saw him hysterically warn of the disastrous effects of climate change.
‘By the end of this century, if emissions keep rising, the average temperature on Earth could go up another four to eight degrees. What I’m saying is the planet’s on f***ing fire,’ said Nye as he set fire to a wooden globe sitting on a disk in front of him.
‘There are a lot of things we could do to put it out — are any of them free? No, of course not. Nothing’s free, you idiots.
‘Grow the f**k up. You’re not children anymore. I didn’t mind explaining photosynthesis to you when you were 12. But you’re adults now, and this is an actual crisis, got it? Safety glasses off, motherf***ers.’
The assertions made by Nye at the time sparked criticism from scientists and journalists including the National Review’s Ian Tuttle, who pointed out Nye’s questionable credentials when it comes to education.
‘William Sanford Nye’s scientific bona fides consists of an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell, and a stint at Boeing,’ Tuttle said at the time.
‘You can be anything you want on television, and in the late 1980s, hard at work pursuing a career in comedy, Nye landed a recurring bit as Bill Nye “the Science Guy” on Almost Live!, a Seattle-area sketch-comedy television show,’
‘And a role as Christopher Lloyd’s laboratory sidekick on Back to the Future: The Animated Series,’ the journalist wrote.