Juneteenth and the Zodiac: Your Sign’s Black History Icon

On June 19, 1865, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas received the news that the Civil War had ended and they were free, more than two months after the Confederate surrender, and more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. While the Proclamation declared freedom in 1863, the reality of that freedom had been actively withheld, making Juneteenth the true ending of slavery in the United States. For generations it was celebrated quietly within Black communities across the country, and on June 17, 2021, it became a federal holiday. 

Juneteenth is a day to honor the resilience, courage, and brilliance of Black Americans, including the extraordinary leaders who fought, organized, marched, wrote, and sacrificed to change the course of history. In that spirit, here is a tribute to twelve of those leaders through the lens of astrology, one for each sign of the zodiac.

Aries — Harriet Tubman (March, c. 1822)

Though her exact birthdate was never recorded (a reality for many born into slavery) Harriet Tubman is recognized as a March birth. The first sign of the zodiac, Aries, is ruled by Mars, the planet of courage and war, and no one embodied that more fully than Harriet Tubman. Tubman escaped slavery and returned to the South more than a dozen times by way of the Underground Railroad, personally leading hundreds to freedom. She later served as a spy and military strategist for the Union Army. A born trailblazer, she never lost a passenger.

Taurus — Malcolm X (May 19, 1925)

Taurus is fixed earth: immovable, determined, and resolute. Malcolm X was all of that and more. Born Malcolm Little, he transformed himself from a man imprisoned by circumstance into one of the most electrifying voices for Black liberation in American history. As a minister and spokesman for the Nation of Islam, he challenged systemic racism with a boldness that shook the country, and later evolved his message toward universal human rights after his pilgrimage to Mecca. Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet of values, and Malcolm X knew exactly what he stood for.

Gemini — Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906)

Josephine Baker embodied everything Gemini: duality, brilliance, and the ability to hold two worlds at once. She was an internationally acclaimed performer and an undercover agent for the French Resistance during World War II, using her celebrity to pass intelligence to Allied forces. A fierce civil rights activist, she refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States, and was one of the few women to speak at the 1963 March on Washington. Baker moved effortlessly between jazz stages and liberation movements. True Gemini Aura. 

Cancer — Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908)

Cancer is the sign of protection, family, and home, and Thurgood Marshall spent his life making sure every American had the right to belong. As the lead attorney for the NAACP, he argued and won Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the landmark Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. He later became the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Cancer rules the fourth house of home, roots, and belonging, and Marshall ensured that justice lived there too.

Leo — Marcus Garvey (August 17, 1887)

No sign commands a room like Leo, and Marcus Garvey commanded a movement. The founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Garvey built the largest Black mass movement in American history during the 1920s, rallying millions around the vision of Pan-African pride, Black economic independence, and global solidarity. A gifted orator with an unmistakable presence, he inspired a generation of Black leaders including Martin Luther King Sr. and Malcolm X. Leo rules the heart, and Garvey poured his entirely into the cause of Black liberation.

Virgo — Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948)

Virgo is the sign of service, strategy, and showing up for the people. Fred Hampton did all three with extraordinary precision….A Virgo as his best. As the chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, Hampton organized free breakfast programs for children, brokered truces between Chicago street gangs, and built one of the most effective grassroots coalitions the city had ever seen. He was 21 years old when the FBI and Chicago police assassinated him in his sleep. Virgo energy is quiet and methodical. Fred Hampton was that, and the world lost him far too soon. But his legacy lives on. 

Libra — Nat Turner (October 2, 1800)

Libra is the sign of justice and equality, and Nat Turner stood on his Libra scales business. An enslaved preacher and prophet, Turner led one of the most significant slave rebellions in American history in 1831 in Southampton County, Virginia. His insurrection shook the slaveholding south to its core, and put a spotlight on the national debate over slavery, ultimately contributing to the abolitionist momentum that would grow in the decades before the Civil War. A true driver of justice. 

Scorpio — Daisy Bates (November 11, 1914)

Look at a Scorpio and know you’re looking at strength. As President of the Arkansas NAACP and mentor to the Little Rock Nine, Daisy Bates personally guided nine Black students through the doors of Little Rock Central High School in 1957 while an angry mob stood outside. Her home was bombed and shot at repeatedly. Her newspaper was targeted financially until it was forced to close. She kept going anyway. Scorpio rules transformation through fire, and Daisy Bates walked through it, while bringing nine young people with her.

Sagittarius — Shirley Chisholm (November 30, 1924)

Sagittarius is the archer, always aiming high past the realm of what’s possible. Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968, and in 1972 she ran for president, boldly declaring that she was “unbought and unbossed.” She blazed a trail for every Black woman in American politics who came after her. Jupiter-ruled and freedom-seeking, Chisholm refused to be contained by anyone’s definition of what she was allowed to be.

Capricorn — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929)

Capricorn is the sign of the mountain goat, determined, disciplined, and building toward something that will last. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement with strategic vision, organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery marches. His “I Have a Dream” speech remains one of the most powerful documents of moral leadership in American history. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. A man who built a legacy designed to outlive him, he was a Capricorn at his finest.

Aquarius — Frederick Douglass (February 14, c. 1818)

Aquarius is the visionary, and the sign that sees a more equal, more humane future for everyone. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, taught himself to read, escaped to freedom, and became one of the most powerful orators and abolitionists in American history. He published the anti-slavery newspaper The North Star and advised President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Historical evidence implies Douglass was born in February, and he chose Valentine’s Day as his birthday because his mother used to call him her “little Valentine.” 

Pisces — W.E.B. Du Bois (February 23, 1868)

Pisces is the sign of the visionary, the philosopher, and the one who sees beyond what is visible. W.E.B. Du Bois was a true visionary. The first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard, a co-founder of the NAACP, and one of the most prolific thinkers in Black American history, Du Bois was decades ahead of his time. His landmark work The Souls of Black Folk introduced the concept of “double consciousness,” the experience of moving through a world that sees your race before it sees you. Pisces being a mutable, water sign, this is very much on-brand. A true mutable, water sign Pisces, Du Bois’ brilliant thoughts and ideas knew no boundaries.