Happy Juneteenth: Here’s What You Should Know!
Today is Juneteenth; a day where we take a moment to celebrate, remember, and reflect on a big moment in history.
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The holiday — which is also called Freedom Day, Liberation Day or Jubilee Day — is a 155-year-old holiday celebrating the emancipation of African-Americans from slavery in the United States. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1, 1863, all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” However, It wasn’t until June 19, 1865 — after the April 1865 conclusion of the Civil War when Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army landed in Galveston, Texas, and informed slaves that the Civil War had ended and slavery had been abolished.
Texas was the first to make Juneteenth a state holiday and now it is marked as a holiday or observance by 47 states and Washington D.C. However, it still isn’t a national holiday. Businesses including Twitter and Square, Nike, the National Football League, Vox Media, and The 19th have recently started to recognize Juneteenth, and make it a paid company holiday.
However calls to make it a federal holiday have grown following recent events which have sparked discussions on police brutality, racial inequality, and racism. As the Times reports, every year, Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee introduces a resolution to recognize the historical significance of Juneteenth. She also plans this week to introduce a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
Aside from that, Americans around the country still acknowledge Juneteenth as a holiday which celebrates freedom, education, achievement, and self-advancement in the Black community.
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