Thursday, June 19, 2008

the day the last ones heard


"Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond."



Did you know that two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 - which stated that all slaves were now free, that Texas slaveholders conspired which each other to keep that knowledge from their slaves. It was on June 19th, 1865 that Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and let the population know that the war had ended and the slavery was abolished.

Go the Juneteenth website for ideas on how to celebrate.

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