What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is the day that Union soldiers, under the command
of Major General Gordon Granger, rode into Galveston, Texas to announce to still
enslaved African Americans that the war is over, they are free (Holland, 2019).
When Did Juneteenth Begin?
On June 19th, 1865 when the Union soldiers announced in Galveston, TX, this is the day marked in Galveston as “Freedom Day” – and local celebrations began in 1866. It spread to other cities, slowly. Most Americans over the age of 30 (as of this writing) had never heard of this holiday until a series called Atlanta, on the FX network, made brief mention in the first few minutes of one of the shows of the first season (Ali, 2018). June 19th would be first declared a state holiday in Texas on June 7, 1979 – since then 42 other states and the District of Columbia have declared the holiday (Gates, 2013).
It Is Official!
On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed a bill
declaring Juneteenth (June 19th) to be a federal holiday.
References
Ali, R. (2018).
Yes, Juneteenth is a real holiday. Yahoo! Entertainment. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/atlanta-yes-juneteenth-real-holiday-033628451.html
Gates, H. L.
(2013). What is Juneteenth? The Root. https://www.theroot.com/what-is-juneteenth-1790896900
Holland, J. J.
(2019). When did Juneteenth celebrations begin? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2019/06/14/Juneteenth-history-end-of-slavery-Galveston-Texas-Civil-War/stories/201906150020#:~:text=A%20holiday%20that%20is%20spreading%20across%20the%20U.S.,Civil%20War%20had%20ended%20and%20they%20were%20free
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