WHAT IS JUNETEENTH?

Juneteenth Independence Day is 4th of July for African-Americans. Juneteenth Independence Day is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth Independence Day is a day to celebrate the last vestiges of more than two hundred years of slavery and to demonstrate racial reconciliation and healing after the shameful legacy of oppression.

The Declaration of Independence and the "4th of July", 1776, did not include the enslaved descendants of African-Americans nor were we recognized as full human beings. Juneteenth symbolizes the end of slavery. African-Americans were not free until about 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Juneteenth recognizes June 19, 1865, when news of the end of the Civil War reached Galveston, Texas, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. We celebrate Juneteenth because that is a day that is recognized when the last of African-American slaves were actually declared free. The “19th of June” is the freedom forerunner to the 13th Amendment, which implemented freedom for all slaves in the United States, Juneteenth Independence Day completes the cycle of Independence Day Celebrations in America. In 1997, the 105^th Congress of the United States passed Senate Joint Resolution 11 and House Joint Resolution 56 officially recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day in America.

Annually, on June 19, in more than 200 cities in the United States. There are just four states that don't recognize the holiday: Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. Juneteenth serves as a historical milestone reminding Americans of the triumph of the human spirit over the cruelty of slavery. It honors those African-Americans ancestors who survived the inhumane institution of bondage, as well as demonstrating pride in the marvelous legacy of resistance and perseverance they left us.

Freedom meant more than the right to travel freely, and not work for free. lt meant the right to name one's self and many freedmen gave themselves new names. Legal freedom enabled African Americans to try to reconstruct our families. It enabled African Americans to have licenses to legalize our marriages. Emancipation allowed ex-slaves the right to assemble and openly worship as they saw fit, whatever religion we choose to reclaim. Freedom implied that for the first time, United States laws protected the rights of African-American citizens. The promise of emancipation gave freedmen optimism for the future; few realized slavery's bitter legacy was just beginning to unfold and that equality was to remain an elusive dream.