What Juneteenth means to me?

Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day and also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day) is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved black Americans.

Juneteenth originated in Galveston, Texas, and it has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865.

The day was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Participants in the Great Migration out of the South carried their celebrations to other parts of the country.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, these celebrations were eclipsed by the nonviolent determination to achieve civil rights, but grew in popularity again in the 1970s with a focus on African American freedom and African-American arts.

What Juneteenth means to me?

Juneteenth is celebrated to mark the end of slavery.

Victoria Raggs, a DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) consultant and the executive director of the Atlanta Jews of Color Council had the following to say about what Juneteenth should mean/represent;

 “Juneteenth is not only a holiday for American descendants of slaves, but Americans as a whole.”

Raggs continued;

“It is especially significant to me since the state recently passed the resolution about critical race theory and banning talk about race and racial history in schools.”