Hundreds gather for a day of family fun at Harper McNoble Park in honor of Juneteenth, now a federal holiday in the United States, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Chris Barfield and Kaminski Garner act as the organizers of th
Juneteenth: A day to honor
I was born and raised in Atlanta, Texas but, I did not hear about this celebration until 1982, not even in school. It was 1982 when we had a Juneteenth celebration at McNoble Park. It was fun, free food, domino games, softball, the church choir on one end of the park and blues playing on the other end.
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. It only applied to people in Confederate States.
Major General Gordon Granger and Union troops, with 2,000 black troops, landed in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, to tell enslaved African Americans living there that the Civil War had ended and that they were now free. (Although the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued two and a half years earlier).
One hundred and fifty-six years later, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, making June 19 a federal holiday. Biden said signing the measure was “one of the greatest honors I will have had as a president.” Many celebrated in their yards, cooked bar-b-que, played games, and played music. It was an enjoyable day for African Americans.
It is the first federal holiday created since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1983.