When did you first learn about Juneteenth?
I mean, seriously, think about it.
It wasn’t taught in elementary school, middle school, or high school for that matter.
The vast majority of us didn’t learn about it until college or worse within the last 3-5 years.
It seems as if these holidays and historic events just came out of thin air but that’s not true. It’s time to recognize its place in American history and reflect on the long struggle for equal rights. We’ve been fighting for our lives since the dawn of time and we still have much further to go. As of June 15th, the Senate passed a bill to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday. President Biden signed off on the bill on June 17th and the rest is history – for now.
What Is Juneteenth?
On June 19, 1865, the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War had ended, and enslaved African Americans had been freed. Though the Emancipation Proclamation became law in January 1863, it could not be enforced in places still under confederate control. Thus it took over 2 years for approximately 250,000 Texan slaves to learn their freedom had been secured by the government.
Click here to learn more about Juneteenth.
Continue reading “Juneteenth: The Past, The Present, The Future”
Thee Heart of The Matter 