Day of Celebration and Reflection as we celebration Juneteenth - The freedom of African Americans
Juneteenth marked the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in the last Southern holdout state, Texas, on June 19, 1865. Slaves in Texas were told on that day that they were free. This announcement was preceded by President Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." It was two and a half years later that slaves in Texas were informed. They stopped work and held a celebration that is now became known as Juneteenth Independence Day.
