I knew the proper definition of Juneteenth. Furthermore, President Abraham Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” speech was issued on January 1, 1863: It reads: Juneteenth. I must have inherited reliable research skills from my dad, McAllen Foutch and from my attorney son, Jim, all intermingled while also being an investigative journalist. We were taught to have many supporting facts for every personally subjective topic. Ask Jim.
Returning to Juneteenth, the subject material, it has become a federal holiday in the United States, which commemorates the “emancipation of enslaved African Americans” (blacks) taken from the educational resource online pages of the popular tool Wikipedia. Its name is derived from combining “June” and “nineteenth, 19th.” Originating in Galveston, Texas, Juneteenth has been observed annually throughout this country and sparingly throught DeKalb County, Tennessee. Continuing, the celebratory observance was first recognized as a federal holiday in 2021 when U.S. President Joe Biden signed the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act” into law.
In retrospect, by 1865 toward the end of the Civil War, there were an estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas. President Abraham Lincoln issued his “Emancipation Proclamation” on January 1, 1863, promising the final freedom to the slaves in Texas and all the other rebellious parts of Southern secessionist states of the Confederacy. The lengthy, but historic, speech was given on
land at Stones’ River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Today, it is an empty piece of mowed acreage At wartime, while the roclamation declared an end of slavery in the southern states, it did not end slavery in the states that remained in the Union (Kentucky and Delaware). Those slaves were freed with the ratification of the Thirteenth (13th) Amendment, which abolished chattel slavery (the most common form) nationwide on December 6, 1865. The last U.S. slaves were freed in 1866 after the Civil War.
The Executive of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, informed by order to all Texans that, in an accordance with a proclamation, ALL SLAVES WERE FREE. Later, the black community began using the word Juneteenth early in the 1890’s.
In conclusion, Juneteenth officially was named a state holiday on January 1, 1980 by Texas. By 2006, at least 200 national cities celebrated the day. Today, it is a paid holiday throughout our country for state and/or district workers. It has been referred to as “an annual day or honor and reflection.”
In summation, the History Channel encapsulates that, “Juneteenth marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The Emancipation Proclamation had been signed 2 ½ years earlier following the Stones’ River battle in Murfreesboro. By transferable transportation, it took this amount of time to arrive in Washington, DC for Lincoln’s signature. Remember: The Juneteenth holiday honors the effective end of slavery in the United States.”
Furthermore, President Abraham Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” was issued on January 1, 1863 in celebrating Juneteenth. He announced, in part: “that all person’s held as slaves” within the rebellious areas “are, and henceforward, shall be free.” It was delivered during the third year of the Civil War.
