Please join King County in celebrating Juneteenth!
Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States and commemorates the day that the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. This was about two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation read, “All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free,” meaning those enslaved in Confederate states that had seceded from the United States were granted emancipation from slavery. Later, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865. The Amendment, being one of three Reconstruction Amendments, dictated that slavery was abolished throughout the United States, although it also reinstituted slavery as a punishment for crime. Additionally, the Emancipation Proclamation called for formally enslaved Africans to join the Union’s military forces. At the end of the Civil War, nearly 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors had served in the Union Army and Navy.
Galveston, Texas, was one of 48 designated points of entry into the United States for enslaved Africans arriving from a brutal transatlantic voyage. In June of 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger visited the Union Army Headquarters to write General Order No. 3. Then, Granger and his soldiers marched around Galveston, reading General Order No. 3, transmitting and enforcing the decree of the Emancipation Proclamation to the residents of Galveston, and freeing the last of the enslaved Africans in the Confederacy. The first official Juneteenth celebration was held by freed Black/African American men and women in Texas on June 19, 1866, one year after General Granger’s declaration. Since then, Juneteenth festivities have been celebrated all throughout the United States.
Following the abolition of slavery in the United States and the emancipation of remaining enslaved Black/African Americans, it was a long and difficult journey. Freed Black/African Americans endured horrific antagonism and faced uncertainty as they tried to pursue lives with their newfound freedom. However, through unity, resilience, and hope, Black/African Americans have been able to overcome these challenges and thrive. Today, Juneteenth is celebrated by honoring the tenacity and courage of Black/African Americans, reflecting on the continuous struggle for racial equity and justice, and gathering to celebrate the progress that has been made towards liberation.
Join the celebration of joy, community, and freedom this Juneteenth by attending a festival, cookout, religious service, block party, parade, concert, or spoken word performance!
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/thirteenth-amendment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_slavery_in_the_United_States