June 19 Should Be a National Holiday

19 июня должен быть национальный праздник

151 years ago, slavery ended in Texas.

 

Angie Stone performing at Syracuse Juneteenth 2016

日本語

Juneteenth is a nationwide celebration of the end of slavery. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Texas and announced all slaves were free.

Juneteenth originated as a celebration of the ending of slavery in Texas.  On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and 1,800 troops of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Civil War had ended and all slaves were free.  Even though President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect on January 1, 1863, freeing all slaves in those states in rebellion against the United States, for various reasons the decree had not yet taken effect in Texas.

Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery had finally come to an end in Texas. That day — June 19, 1865 — would come to be celebrated by black Americans all over the country, who remember Juneteenth as the anniversary of their historic triumph over the planter class.

It should be a national holiday.

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