College of Charleston African American Studies Professor Explains History of Juneteenth
The United States of America is known for its annual celebration of freedom from the British Empire every year on the Fourth of July, a time when the stars and stripes of the American flag abound and fireworks light up the night sky.
But there is another, lesser known, but equally significant, celebration of American independence that takes place ahead of the pomp and circumstance of July 4. Juneteenth is an annual celebration on June 19th that marks the date in 1865 when word reached Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, that slavery had been abolished and those enslaved were free.
In the more than 150 years since this seminal moment in American history, African-American communities have marked the occasion of Juneteenth with picnics, festivals and church services.
