JUNETEENTH: How to Support and Celebrate this Meaningful Holiday by Maggie Jay, Staff member

What is Juneteenth? New Year’s Eve, 1862, was spent waiting for life-changing
news for enslaved people of the United States. The next day, Black people in the
North learned of their freedom.

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by then-President Abraham Lincoln read that
all those who were enslaved, “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
But in 1862 there was no internet, no radio, no TV, no phones. It took over two years
for the news of freedom to reach those in the westernmost confederate states.

Union soldiers traveled from town to town, giving the life-changing news to the
enslaved and their former oppressors. For 21⁄2 years, the mostly Black soldiers
traveled through the now defeated confederate territory, sharing the Declaration of
Independence, and freeing Black people with the words that rolled off their tongues.

Finally, on June 19th, 1865, the day came that Union soldiers traveled to the last
town. Over 2000 soldiers arrived in Galveston, the southern-most town of Texas to
announce to the enslaved people they were no longer property of another human.

Juneteenth commemorates that day. It is a celebration of freedom. A freedom still
being fought for today. How can I, as an ally, participate in Juneteenth and uplifting the Black community?