Happy Juneteenth—19 June!
The BlackQuaker Project would like to celebrate Juneteenth, a landmark event in African American and American History. Juneteenth commemorates the freeing of enslaved Africans, the last freed in the country, in Texas on 19 June 1865 by the Union Army; two years after The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 had made slavery illegal in all states in rebellion. It has been marked by celebrations in African American communities for well over 100 years. Later, it became an officially enshrined holiday in Texas on 1 January, 1980 and is today recognized as a holiday in 45 states across the country. In recent decades Juneteenth has seen a more widespread acceptance as a national holiday and has become more broadly recognized outside of African American communities. We wish those celebrating the holiday --as well as those folks who are unfamiliar with it-- happiness and solidarity.