Viewpoints Explained: What Juneteenth Reveals About American History

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Earlier this month, you may have had the day off work for Juneteenth. The yearly federal holiday is fairly new and falls on June nineteenth – hence the name. While you may have spent the day relaxing outside or catching up on housework, it’s important to understand the significance of Juneteenth.

Go back to January first, 1863, and on this day, president Abraham Lincoln signed into effect the emancipation proclamation. This executive order declared an end to slavery and stated that quote “all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free.” End quote.

While slavery officially ended on this date, it took more than two years for union army troops to enforce the law across all southern confederate states. Juneteenth marks the day on June 19, 1865, that about two hundred and fifty thousand slaves in Texas learned of their freedom. The civil war had ended just two months before and this was the last remaining enslaved population.

Juneteenth represents the end of a barbaric practice that spanned more than two hundred years and ruined the lives of an estimated ten million Africans who were enslaved. The day is also an important reminder that equality is not always a given and the fight continues to end racial bias and discrimination.

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