Juneteenth
Today on Juneteenth, the day we celebrate the end of slavery, the day we memorialize those who offered us hope for the future and the day when we renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom - Angela Davis
image by: Tim Ervin, National Parks Service
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Slavery Didn't End On Juneteenth. Here's What You Should Know About This Important Day
It goes by many names. Whether you call it Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or the country's second Independence Day, Juneteenth is one of the most important anniversaries in our nation's history.
On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, who had fought for the Union, led a force of soldiers to Galveston, Texas, to deliver a very important message: the war was finally over, the Union had won, and it now had the manpower to enforce the end of slavery. The announcement came two months after the effective conclusion of the Civil War, and even longer since Abraham Lincoln had first signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but many enslaved black people in Texas still weren't free, even after…
Resources
'On Juneteenth' historian examines the hope and hostility toward emancipation
Well, Juneteenth represents the end of slavery - technically the end of slavery in Texas in 1865. And it has been a day to commemorate what we know - and we know from the way they acted - the joy of people who were enslaved in Texas when they heard the news that slavery was over and being treated as chattel
Juneteenth: The History of a New Holiday
On June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free. A century and a half later, people across the U.S. continue to celebrate the day, which is now a federal holiday.
Freedom’s promise is still denied to thousands of blacks unabldownloade to make bail
Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of black Americans and the long, hard road they were forced to traverse to gain that freedom. But as criminologists like me have maintained time and again, the U.S. criminal justice system remains biased, albeit implicitly, against them.
Juneteenth: What is the newest US holiday and how is it celebrated?
"It's not a Texas thing or a black thing. It's an American thing."
Why celebrating Juneteenth is more important now than ever
It’s time for America to truly grapple with its legacy of slavery.
Activists Are Pushing to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday. Here’s the History Behind Their Fight
Some details about the origins of Juneteenth are lost to history, and many of those details that do survive only became more widely known later on.
Black Joy—Not Corporate Acknowledgment—Is the Heart of Juneteenth
Companies and state governments are finally recognizing Emancipation Day as an official holiday, but black Americans have honored its significance all along.
Calls To Make Juneteenth A Federal Holiday Gain Momentum
"African Americans were on the front lines of every war, from the Spanish-American War, throughout the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, both world wars, Vietnam," says Gwen Ragsdale, executive director of the Lest We Forget Slavery Museum in Philadelphia. "We have paid our dues with our blood and our toil, so America owes African Americans much more than they are willing to acknowledge." Ragsdale says that recognizing and celebrating African American history is well overdue and that she's hopeful that today's movement will bring about change.
Government Recognition of Juneteenth Is Not Enough
The track record for federal holidays with roots in Black history isn’t good. Such holidays have repeatedly been whitewashed and divorced from their original meaning
How the ‘Juneteenth’ Name—and Holiday—Spread
Celebrations of the June 19, 1865, announcement of emancipation in Texas went by many names before one became known across the country
Juneteenth Is a Celebration of Progress—and a Warning
Freedom and justice have always been delayed for Black Americans.
Juneteenth is finally a US national holiday—several years late
Across the world, and particularly in countries where where people were enslaved, an equivalent Emancipation Day is already celebrated as a national holiday to mark the end of the two-century trade in human beings abducted from western Africa. Emancipation Day, not necessarily on or around June 19, is a holiday in Canada, South Africa, and in many Caribbean countries. The US is a little late to the party.
Juneteenth is the newest federal holiday. Here's what it celebrates.
Observed on June 19, the holiday commemorates the end of slavery in Texas—which wasn't until two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth, explained
The holiday’s 155-year history holds a lot of meaning in the fight for black liberation today.
Juneteenth, the U.S.’ Second Independence Day, Is Now a Federal Holiday
The bill’s passage makes Juneteenth the nation’s 12th federal holiday. The last time the government added a new holiday to its calendar was in 1983, when the third Monday of January was declared Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Make Juneteenth count; It should be a U.S. holiday
Give us the whole shebang, a Monday observance, curriculum, traditional food, and festivities historic of the 150 year-old occasion. Most of all, we, New Jersey, need to be present in the great outcry for healing across the nation. African- Americans deserve sincere, visible legislation that all can share because John F. Kennedy said, “We celebrate the past to awaken the future.”
Most Americans Know Little or Nothing About Juneteenth, Poll Finds
Academics believe that increases in the number of Americans familiar with the holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., may be a result of last summer’s protests against racism.
So You Want to Learn About Juneteenth?
On June 19, 1865, enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, were told they were free. A century and a half later, people in cities and towns across the U.S. continue to celebrate the occasion.
The Quintessential Americanness of Juneteenth
The most famous Emancipation holiday is more necessary now than it has ever been.
Why All Americans Should Celebrate Juneteenth
We should care because the very fabric of our society depends on our shared religion of inalienable rights. A celebration of freedom for any American is a celebration of the ideals that make our country what it is today.
Slavery Didn't End On Juneteenth. Here's What You Should Know About This Important Day
It goes by many names. Whether you call it Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or the country's second Independence Day, Juneteenth is one of the most important anniversaries in our nation's history.
Juneteenth.Com
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
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