What is Juneteenth day

A historical context sheds some light. Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day was first celebrated by ...

Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. Between 2020 and 2022, five states (Texas, New York, Virginia, Washington, and Illinois) made it a paid holiday for state employees. But this time real freedom for all. Texas became the first state to designate Juneteenth as a state holiday. In 2002, eight other states joined Texas and Missouri followed suit in 2003. President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery in January of 1863—two and half years earlier.

Also known as Emancipation Day, the name blends “June” and “nineteenth” — the date in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced ...

Juneteenth marks the day when America at last began living up to its founding creed. Even as the national unemployment rate sits at a near-historic low of 3.6%, Black joblessness lags at 6.5%. The racial wealth gap — a pronounced failure of social policy — has only increased over the past 40 years. It’s not hard to understand why, though, a century and a half later, Douglass’s words still sting. The African American story from that day forward was one of halting progress — from the 15th Amendment, to Brown v. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. In effect, it asks Americans to reconcile their national aspirations with the reality of persistent inequalities.

The staff of Streetsblog is off today to mark the Juneteenth national holiday, the celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. in 1865.

Although the holiday has long been celebrated, it wasn’t until last year that President Biden finally signed into law a bill creating Juneteenth National Independence Day. From the staff at Streetsblog we wish everyone a safe and memorable holiday. The staff of Streetsblog is off today to mark the Juneteenth national holiday, the celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. in 1865.

Others have been celebrating it for years, with meaningful traditions. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and ...

For as long as I can remember, my family has celebrated Juneteenth. We would attend barbecues, parades, dances, and a lot of other social events to discuss ...

One of my favorite things to do was going to Cooper Lake to celebrate Juneteenth with a big barbecue and fish fry. It’s a time to celebrate diversity and freedom with family, friends and loved ones. From what I was taught growing up to the recent events, I have a newfound perspective of what Juneteenth means to me. Because of my family’s history, I understood at a very young age what atrocities were happening toward African Americans and what our roots were. Below is a personal story of what Juneteenth means to me. It took me well into my adulthood to realize that many Americans had no idea this day of celebration and liberation even existed, let alone the history behind it.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, editor of the Black Agenda, about celebrating Juneteenth without misappropriating the holiday.

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