IT: 📜 Juneteenth becomes national holiday celebrating end of slavery in U.S.

Welcome to Friday, June 18th, fighters for freedom...

Juneteenth has become the first new federal holiday in decades.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have signed a law making Juneteenth a federal holiday, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

How do you feel about the newest national holiday?

The History of Juneteenth

Though the Emancipation Proclamation technically ended slavery on January 1, 1863, it took another two years until it reached all enslaved people. Juneteenth commemorates the day on which emancipation finally reached those in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy.

Juneteenth started in Texas in 1865 when 250,000 enslaved people were (finally) liberated.

Juneteenth is also known as "Juneteenth Independence Day," the idea being that the 4th of July only commemorates the independence of European-descended Americans.

Despite the great strides the United States has made since then, slavery within our borders persists to this day.

According to the Global Slavery Index, there are still 403,000 people living in modern slavery within the United States. The GSI defines slavery as any kind of forced exploitation, including labor trafficking (domestic work, agriculture, traveling sales crews, restaurant and food service, and health and beauty service) as well as sex trafficking.

Did you learn about Juneteenth in school?

All the Memes Fit to Post

And, in the End…

We end with an Emancipation Day celebration in Richmond, Virginia, in 1905:

Hope you have a meaningful Juneteenth,

—Josh Herman

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