06/11/2026
900 days.
Many of us have heard of Juneteenth, but perhaps not all of us realize what it actually commemorates.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, legally ending slavery among the Confederate states in rebellion and profoundly influencing the course of the war. But since those states were not under Union control, implementation was initially limited and difficult to enforce.
Over the next two and a half years, more and more people secured their freedom. Finally on June 19, 1865, Army troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, announced the war was over and that they had the manpower to enforce the end of slavery.
900 days since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the westernmost Confederate state had been reached. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery for good later that year.
Juneteenth memorializes the freedom recognized that June 19. All of us should applaud the freedom granted that day, and the right of every American to be free.
Dystany Spurlock | Foxxtecca
