Juneteenth is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, and it identifies the date June 19,1865 that Union Troops led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the end of the Civil War and abolition of slavery.
The Civil War ended April 9, 1865.
The Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in confederate states was signed by President Abraham Lincoln January 1, 1863.
The 13th Amendment abolished Slavery in all the states, December 6, 1865
All of these dates were relevant in the freedom of African Americans from slavery, but June 19th is the one that is celebrated because it was the day that freedom reached those slaves in the most southern confederate state Texas; that were still in bondage even though they had been declared free almost two and a half years earlier by President Lincoln’s Proclamation.
We can celebrate Juneteenth and demonstrate Argonne’s Core Values of RESPECT for our African American coworkers; IMPACT on the relationships between African Americans and other ethnic groups; and INTEGRITY as we recognize how we can and should get along with one another.
