Juneteenth – Celebrating Freedom and Equality | Radar 2021

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day or Black Independence Day is celebrated annually every June 19th, marking the federal troop’s 1865 arrival into Galveston, Texas with a message of freedom for all enslaved people. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed two and a half years prior, but hundreds of thousands of people were still being kept as slaves. As late as 1860, one year before the Civil War, there were more than 4 million slaves in the US…which, at the time, was about 13% of the U.S. population. Today, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery and is a national expression of African American culture and independence. Celebrations revolving around the freedom of slaves also occur throughout Latin America where many countries abolished slavery long before the United States. This year, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday. To better understand the history of Juneteenth and emancipation celebrations beyond our borders, we were helped out by contributor Lu Louis, as well as guests from the Mascogo Community, the Juneteenth Legacy Project and different corners of the academic world.

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