CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH

Today we celebrate Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) honoring the end to slavery in the United States. While it just officially became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, it is considered the longest-running African American holiday dating back to the day federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure all enslaved people be freed in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation signed a mere 2.5 years previously. We’ve come a long way since then, yet have so far still to go.