Happy Juneteenth everyone. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, or Black Freedom Day, is the day where we celebrate the anniversary of the abolishment of African American slavery, which was on June 19, 1865. Well, it was almost abolished until that day. You see, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave slaves their freedom, but it wasnt until 1865 that in Galveston, Texas, the last Confederate slave state, that Union officers told the state government that slavery is immoral, unethical, and now, illegal. So the slaves were freed. Over time, Black Americans began to celebrate the holiday through art, music, community gathering, and prayer. It gained popularity and more observers in the 1950s and 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement, where many Black people fought for racial equality. Juneteenth was used as a pivotal push for Black equality during those days. About 60 years later, on June 19th ,2021, President Joe Biden signed Juneteenth as a national and federal holiday.

Juneteenth has become a holiday of racial equality, justice and perseverance, and I hope you can celebrate all that it has today.