Juneteenth: A Second US Independence Day

“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves free.” That proclamation, June 19, 1865, was the spark for a day that has come to be known in the United States as Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of U.S. slavery. The proclamation in Texas actually came 2½ years after slavery ended with President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. That document, which made...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - samedi 16 juin 2018