The 142nd Anniversary of Juneteenth

Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that supposedly gave slaves their freedom, on January 1, 1863. Since these were pre-Internet, pre-television, pre-black-people-being-allowed-to-read times, interested parties (read: slaves) in Texas didn't hear about this until Union soldiers strolled into Galveston on June 19, 1865, bearing really good news.

June 19, eventually shortened to Juneteenth, became an annual emancipation celebration in Texas, and slowly trickled into other states until it became a national (although unofficial, in most places) holiday. Today, it's celebrated across the country with marches, festivals, and barbecues. Happy Juneteenth!

Jun 19, 2007 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 6 Responses

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Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, History, Juneteenth, Slavery, Texas

Comments (6)

No. 1 · sirhova

Yes!!! I was at the Juneteenth celebration in Boston.. I try to go every year.. its a huge cookout in this big park.. tons of ppl (family, uncles and cousins you never met, and bad a$$ kids running around.. lol), tons of fun, and lots of food..

Happy Juneteenth!

Posted: Jun 19, 2007 at 11:46 am

No. 2 · blackmistressdiva

I went to the one in Oakland. Absolutely nothing like the turn out in LA where it seems like a billion black folks show up, but it was good to see us celebrating nonetheless. We are a diverse people!

Posted: Jun 19, 2007 at 12:50 pm

No. 3 · shwamy

Happy Juneteenth! Minneapolis holds a really nice party every year. Last year it became big enough to close streets and everything. I think folks are pretty enlightened about it up here (or THEY THINK they're enlightened anyway). I actually have a calandar from a client in my cube that has it marked as a holiday.
What's great about the Minneapolis party is everyone is welcome (white, asian, and all other folks) — and everyone seems to come, plus there is educational stuff, job oportunities, boating and fishing (all free) and way more to it than just drinking and barbeque. Although of coarse plenty of that too!

Posted: Jun 19, 2007 at 2:08 pm

No. 4 · JillyBean819

Either I'm out of the loop or I had no idea about the Juneteenth celebration. I don't recall hearing about festivities in Detroit but I'm not surprised if there are not any being that people (of all races) are having financial troubles and that stress levels are so bad.

Posted: Jun 19, 2007 at 4:29 pm

No. 5 · At This Year’s Juneteenth Celebrations We Exerted Our Freedom / Stereohyped

[...] People From The Cars And Beat Them To Death June 20th, 2007 » Post A Comment Thanks, Juneteenth revelers in Austin and Milwaukee, for giving people like Matt Drudge the ammunition they need to [...]

Posted: Jun 20, 2007 at 3:53 pm

No. 6 · You Know What June 19th Means… / Stereohyped

[...] Know What June 19th Means… Don't You? Today is Juneteenth, the unofficial holiday that marks the day in 1875 — which happened to have been two months [...]

Posted: Jun 19, 2008 at 2:56 pm

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