05/30/2023 12:39pm

What does freedom mean to you? When we think of freedom, we think about the power that an individual has the right to act, speak, or think as one wants to without interference or imprisonment. Freedom is also defined as the right not to be enslaved.

Juneteenth 1865 marks the day of a significant evolution of our country. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” (National Archives, www.archives.gov).

The Proclamation promised freedom to over 3.5 million African Americans enslaved in Confederate states. President Lincoln understood that the Proclamation would not end slavery immediately. Many slave owners fled with their slaves to Texas, which had become a safe haven for slave labor. Simply put, slave owners were aware of the new law but chose to ignore it because they needed slaves for labor.

General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with nearly 2,000 Union troops, both white and black, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. General Gordon announced on June 19, 1865, that the slaved Texans were free, and the slaves learned the confederacy had fallen.

The first celebration of Jubilee Day also known as Juneteenth was made on the anniversary of Granger’s announcement on June 19, 1866.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in the United States under the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on June 16, 2021, and signed into law by President Joe Biden the following day.

As we approach June 19. 2023, let us remember the people that did not get to see this day and the bondages that were lifted on Juneteenth. Let us reflect on the importance of freedom in our country and how we can use our right today to continue to make a difference.