The story behind Juneteenth and how it became a federal holiday

Many Americans are celebrating Juneteenth, marking the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free.

For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history with joy, in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts. The U.S. government was slow to embrace the occasion — it was only in 2021 that President Joe Biden signed a bill passed by Congress to set aside Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday.

And just as many people learn what Juneteenth is all about, the holiday’s traditions are facing new pressures — political rhetoric condemning efforts to teach Americans about the nation’s racial history, companies using the holiday as a marketing event, people partying without understanding why.

Here is a look at the origins of Juneteenth, how it became a federal holiday and more about its history.

HOW DID JUNETEENTH

START?

The celebrations began with enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. Although President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in 1863, it could not be enforced in many places in the South until the Civil War ended in 1865. Even then, some white people who had profited from their unpaid labor were reluctant to share the news.

Laura Smalley, freed from a plantation near Bellville, Texas, remembered in a 1941 interview that the man she referred to as “old master” came home from fighting in the Civil War and didn’t tell the people he enslaved what had happened.

“Old master didn’t

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Muslim community,” said Abdisalam Adam, imam at Masjid Dar Al-Hijrah in Minneapolis. “… We just hope that those of us who are alive, you know, appreciate life.” photo/Jennifer Reynolds tell, you know, they was free,” Smalley said. “I think now they say they worked them, six months after that. Six months. And turn them loose on the 19th of June. That’s why, you know, we celebrate that day.”

But with feelings of deep sorrow, there’s also hope of healing.

“Today’s about those beautiful souls, those girls, and really honoring their life and what they’ve contributed to the community,” Farah said. Written statement from Dar Al-Farooq: “We find ourselves in deep sorrow today, for our community experienced a heartbreaking tragedy last night.

FILE - Sam Collins III, left, and others celebrate at the Juneteenth historical marker on June 17, 2021, in Galveston, Texas, after President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Communities all over the country will be marking Juneteenth, the day that enslaved Black Americans learned they were free. For generations, the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history has been recognized with joy in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts. Yet, the U.S. government was slow to embrace the occasion.

News that the war had ended and they were free finally reached Galveston when Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in the Gulf Coast city on June 19, 1865, more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia. Granger delivered General Order No. 3, which said: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal

We have lost five of our bright, young sisters in a severe car accident. May Allah grant mercy upon the departed and open the doors of Jannah for them.

We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. These young Muslim sisters, were shining stars of hope for our future. Unfortunately, their lives were cut short last night by a driver evading the police.”

According to a Daily Mail.com news report, the women were doing last-minute shopping at a Minneapolis mall Friday and having the tattoos applied for a friend’s wedding the next day.

They were on the way home when Thompson ran a red light and smashed into them in his SUV at around 10pm. He was traveling at around 95mph - 40 miles over the 55mph

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North, Minneapolis, rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” Slavery was permanently abolished six months later, when Georgia ratified the 13th Amendment. And the next year, the nowfree people of Galveston started celebrating Juneteenth, an observance that has continued and spread around the world. Events include concerts, parades and readings of the Emancipation Proclamation.

WHAT DOES ‘JUNETEENTH’ MEAN?

It’s a blend of the words June and nineteenth. The holiday has also been called Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom speed limit, according to public officials.

Thompson survived the crash and fled his vehicle on foot to a nearby Taco Bell. He was arrested there later and taken to the hospital.

A Minnesota State Police trooper began pursuit of the SUV on an interstate as it was speeding near 100mph where the speed limit is 55mph in south Minneapolis, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety.

The SUV exited the highway before it could be pulled over and ran the red light, crashing into the women’s car.

The five were regular attendees of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in nearby Bloomington, Minnesota, according to director Khalid Omar.

‘These are pearls of our community. They leave a big void. All five of them had bright futures,’ he said.

A group of five Minnesota women preparing for a friend’s wedding by getting henna tattoos were killed Friday night after a driver trying to speed away from police slammed into their car. Sagal Hersi, 19 and Siham Adam, also 19, were two of the victims

Nexus

From 3 since 1983, when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created. photo/Stuart Villanueva

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and had 60 cosponsors, a show of bipartisan support as lawmakers struggled to overcome divisions that are still simmering three years later. Now there is a movement to use the holiday as an opportunity for activism and education, with community service projects aimed at addressing racial disparities and educational panels on topics such health care inequities and the need for parks and green spaces.

FILE - Dancer Prescylia Mae, of Houston, performs during a dedication ceremony for the massive mural “Absolute Equality” in downtown Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 2021. Communities all over the country will be marking Juneteenth, the day that enslaved Black Americans learned they were free. For generations, the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history has been recognized with joy in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts. Yet, the U.S. government was slow to embrace the occasion.

Day, second Independence Day and Emancipation Day. It began with church picnics and speeches, and spread as Black Texans moved elsewhere. Most U.S. states now hold celebrations honoring Juneteenth as a holiday or a day of recognition, like Flag Day. Juneteenth is a paid holiday for state employees in Texas, New York, Virginia, Washington, and now Nevada as well. Hundreds of companies give workers the day off Opal Lee, a former teacher and activist, is largely credited for rallying others behind a campaign to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. The 96-year-old had vivid memories of celebrating Juneteenth in East

Sahra Gesaade, 20, and Salma Abdikadir, 20, were two of the victims in the tragic crash. Abidkadir volunteered as a tutor at her local mosque Sabiriin Ali, 17, was the youngest of the five killed. She had just graduated high school and was headed to the University of Minnesota

The girls started to drive down Lake Street just before 10 p.m. when an SUV being followed by a Minnesota State Police trooper ran a red light and smashed into their car.

Ali had just graduated high school and was set to attend the University of Minnesota, while the other four were all currently in college.

‘They weren’t doing anything wrong,’ Omar added. ‘They were just getting ready for their friend’s wedding.’

Omar noted all five women were volunteers at the Islamic Center, with Ali and her mother working as caretakers, while Abdikadir often taught kids to read and write in Arabic. All five will be buried on Monday.

‘We find ourselves in deep sorrow today, for our community experienced a heartbreaking tragedy last night. We have lost five of our bright, apply.

Over the next eight years, the Fund will award $50,000 grants to at least 800 eligible applicants to be used

Texas as a child with music, food and games. In 2016, the “little old lady in tennis shoes” walked through her home city of Fort Worth, Texas and then in other cities before arriving in Washington, D.C. Soon, celebrities and politicians were lending their support. Lee was one of the people standing next to Biden when he signed Juneteenth into law.

HOW HAVE JUNETEENTH CELEBRATIONS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS?

The national reckoning over race ignited by the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police helped set the stage for Juneteenth to become the first new federal holiday young sisters in a severe car accident.

‘May Allah grant mercy upon the departed and open the doors of Jannah for them,’ the page read.

‘These young Muslim sisters, were shining stars of hope for our future. Unfortunately, their lives were cut short last night by a driver evading the police.’

Thousands of mourners from the area’s large Somali American community attended the young women’s funeral Monday at the Dar AlFarooq mosque in Bloomington, where the five had been active members. They were returning home from a Somali mall where they had henna applied in preparation for a friend’s wedding scheduled for the next day when their car was struck.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said “Our community is grieving the loss of the five bright young people whose lives were cut short in a senseless, selfish act of reckless driving. Instead of celebrating a joyous wedding, these families were forced to plan funerals and deal with the devastation of this tragedy.”

Derrick Thompson previously pleaded guilty to for several wealth-building projects, including housing, education, financial well-being, healing and economic justice.

Applicants identify the area of

Like most holidays, Juneteenth has also seen its fair share of commercialism. Retailers, museums and other venues have capitalized on it by selling Juneteenth-themed T-shirts, party ware and ice cream. Some of the marketing has misfired, provoking a social media backlash. Supporters of the holiday have also worked to make sure Juneteenth celebrators don’t forget why the day exists.

“In 1776 the country was freed from the British, but the people were not all free,” Dee Evans, national director of communications of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, said in 2019.

“June 19, 1865, was actually when the people and the entire country was actually free.”

There’s also sentiment to use the day to remember the sacrifices that were made for freedom in the United States — especially in these racially and politically charged days. Said Para LaNell Agboga, museum site coordinator at the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center in Austin, Texas: “Our freedoms are fragile, and it doesn’t take much for things to go backward.” fleeing police and causing a crash in Montecito, Calif. in September 2018, according to local media. In that case, Thompson, who was 22 at the time, was fleeing from Ventura police and struck a pedestrian before fleeing on foot. Two passengers in Thompson’s vehicle—one from Maplewood, Minn., and the other from Newport—were arrested, but Thompson was not found at the time. More than 17 pounds of marijuana and $20,000 in cash were found in the trunk of the vehicle, which crashed into a wall on the side of the roadway. Written statement from Dar Al-Farooq: “We find ourselves in deep sorrow today, for our community experienced a heartbreaking tragedy last night. We have lost five of our bright, young sisters in a severe car accident. May Allah grant mercy upon the departed and open the doors of Jannah for them. We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. These young Muslim sisters, were shining stars of hope for our future. Unfortunately, their lives were cut short last night by a driver evading the police. focus that best suits their path to building Black wealth and will be judged by a diverse panel of community leaders across the Dakotas and Minnesota.

Applicants can apply for the grants individually, but groups are encouraged to apply in hopes of building long-term Black wealth and increasing their community impact.

For more information visit https://www.nexuscp.org/ open-road-fund/. The Open Road application closes July 28th.

About Nexus Community Partners

“In who we are and through what we do, Nexus Community Partners builds engaged and powerful communities so that each and every person can flourish in a joyful and abundant life. We hold central that, for this to be possible, we must usher out the rigged rules, attitudes, and practices that concentrate wealth and power in ever fewer and ever whiter hands, and usher in ways of living, working, and making decisions together that nourish communities for this generation and generations to come. For more information, visit www.nexuscp.org.”