Happy Juneteenth

At the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt want to commemorate and celebrate this Juneteenth 2022. In case you did not know, Juneteenth, or “Freedom Day” is the oldest national celebration of the ending of slavery in the United States and has been called “America's second Independence Day.”

In 1863, during the Civil War,  Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. More than two years would pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance.

Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas in 1980, and a number of other states subsequently followed suit. In 2021 Juneteenth was made a federal holiday. The day is also celebrated outside the United States, being used by organizations in a number of countries to recognize the end of slavery and to honor the culture and achievements of African Americans.