Timeless Tuesday: Juneteenth

For this week’s Timeless Tuesday, we will commemorate “Juneteenth”. “Juneteenth” is celebrated on June 19th every year to celebrate the official announcement of the abolishment of slavery.

On June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, Texas union soldiers, led by General Gordon Granger, of the Civil War arrived and told all the slaves that they were officially free. Galveston was considered the first place to celebrate and honor this day starting back in 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, freed all the slaves effective January 1st, 1863 but people still owned and operated slaves in the Deep South until 1865. Speculation is cast on how this was allowed to happen. One idea is that slave masters were lying to slaves and didn’t tell them that they were free. Another says that slave masters were waiting for one last crop harvest before they let their slaves go.

Juneteenth was celebrated following that day with many different events like cookouts, rodeos, and prayer groups. Juneteenth is mostly celebrated by African Americans. The celebrations are mainly based around the achievement and education of the African American community. It started only in Texas in 1865 but now, 42 of the 50 states recognize this day as a holiday. Different states celebrate it differently. Some honor the day with guest speaker events, parades, and parties/cookouts. Some states throw events during the whole month of June to commemorate it. Juneteenth is a very important part of African American heritage and history and we here at WERS believe that. Tune into Rockers and 889@Night to hear more information about Juneteenth.

By Malcolm Gray