What Is Juneteenth?
The History Behind America’s Other Independence Day
Hello Golden Divas!
There is so much going on in the world, from COVID-19, George Floyd’s murder, and numerous protests for a greater change in this world. However, I will be remiss if I didn’t ask my lovely Golden Divas the following question…
‘How are you celebrating Juneteenth this Friday?’
Just in case some of you are not familiar with Juneteenth here is a little history to keep you abreast of the African American culture of our freedom. Check out this article from TODAY.
This year marks the 155th annual celebration amid calls to make June 19 a national holiday.
President Donald Trump has rescheduled a presidential reelection campaign rally from June 19, the same day as Juneteenth, to June 20, after he faced backlash for the rally’s date and location, Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre against the city’s Black residents. California Rep. Karen Bass and Texas Rep. Al Green have both called it a “slap in the face” to Black Americans. Here are the significance and history behind the holiday.
When is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, is an annual celebration marking the end of slavery in the U.S. The holiday commemorates a specific date — June 19, 1865, the day many slaves in Texas learned they had been freed.
What is Juneteenth?
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, announcing that slaves “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free,” but the proclamation didn’t immediately apply in certain areas, including secessionist states like Texas, which had left the Union and joined the Confederacy during the Civil War.
It took another two years for the news to be enacted in Texas. The Civil War ended in April 1865 and two months later, on June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, with Granger saying, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
Slavery was formally abolished after Congress ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution nearly six months later, on Dec. 6, 1865. Freed slaves marked June 19 the following year, kicking off the first celebration of Juneteenth.
What is Juneteenth?
The History of Juneteenth
Texas was the first state to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday. The late Rep. Al Edwards of Houston, a Democratic congressman, wrote and sponsored a bill calling for “Emancipation Day in Texas” to be recognized as a “legal holiday.” He filed Bill 1016 in February 1979 and it passed in the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate the following May. Texas Republican Gov. William Clements signed the bill in June 1979 and the bill officially went into effect on Jan. 1, 1980.
As of now, 47 states along with the District of Columbia that recognizes Juneteenth as “a holiday or observance.”
Golden Divas let’s make the best out of our freedom day!!!
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Source:
https://www.today.com/tmrw/what-juneteenth-history-behind-america-s-other-independence-day-t184164