Saturday, June 19, 2021

Juneteenth Recognized

 

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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