Juneteenth was finally made a federal holiday this year to observe this date in 1865, when word of emancipation finally reached enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Here’s to the work that still has to be done so that everyone is truly free in EVERY way, starting with the Voting Rights Act.
By the way – did you know Opal Lee, who fought for years for Juneteenth to be recognized as a federal holiday, is from my home town of Fort Worth, Texas?
For the first time in nearly 40 years, Juneteenth was officially made a national holiday. and just in time for Saturday’s 156th anniversary of the day that marks the last African American slaves being freed in Texas in the wake of the Civil War. https://t.co/s5muNQjf8E pic.twitter.com/gy41CYtO9d
— ABC News (@ABC) June 20, 2021
Now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, take a minute to learn about Opal Lee—the woman who did more than anyone to make it happen. Let’s follow her lead and try to leave our grandkids a better world than the one we came up in. https://t.co/r2NhXQxd60
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 19, 2021