For Black enslaved Texans effectively freed on Juneteenth (though other forms of legalized slavery still persist centuries later), the day is a celebration of a dream deferred, never lost. And even when they were granted the very thing that their ancestors had prayed for generation after generation, it had to be reimagined and fashioned to fit their new normal, a fact that Miss Juneteenth's protagonist is also forced to grapple with in her tiny Texas town. That same struggle, says Beharie, is our current reality — even in 2020, we're not exactly free yet.