Juneteenth (aka Jubilee Day) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.
For more than 150 years African-Americans have been commemorating Juneteenth (June + nineteenth), the anniversary of the day in 1865 that Union troops finally arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved people in the state – the last slaves in the newly reunited U.S. – were “free” (two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued).
A year later in 1866, the first celebration originated in Galveston, TX. Thanks to two Black mothers in Oregon, Mrs. Clara Peoples and Mrs. Ora Lee Green rallying their community together, the Juneteenth celebration has existed in Portland since 1972.
On June 18, 2020 (almost 50 years later, amidst racial protests, and disparities) Gov. Kate Brown proclaimed June 19 as Juneteenth and announced that she would have the Legislature introduce a bill making it a state holiday in 2021. Senator Lew Frederick who carried House Bill 2168 said, “Juneteenth is not the date that Black Americans, or Black Oregonians, were guaranteed comfort, relief or safety but it is a step forward and a marker of hope, one we must continue to build upon.”
After the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Opal Lee, walked/caravaned from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. in 2020 to call for Americans of every background to embrace the hope and spirit of Juneteenth- full freedom for all, the day was finally recognized as a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
Image by Shawnte Sims
Additional Resources by Alice Faye Duncan and Julia Shumway
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