By Jacqline Wolf Tice, At-large delegate to Pennsylvania Chapter Executive Committee and Chair of the Chapter Equity Committee
In 2019, Pennsylvania established Juneteenth (June 19), the day marking the legal end of enslavement of Black people in the United States, as a state holiday. It is a day to celebrate and remember one of our difficult national histories that both honors evolution and rejects oppression. It is a day to honor Black American culture, music, food, history, art, values, and experience.
A little known fact of major coincidence is that on June 19, 1862, the Act to secure “Freedom to all Persons within the Territories of the United States” (37th Cong. Chap. CXI, 1862) was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order, was enacted on January 1, 1863. It took over two years for soldiers to deliver and read on June 19, 1865, the Presidential Proclamation securing the promised freedom to over 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas. U.S. General Gordon Granger read the order: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” Over 100 years later, in 1979, Texas was the first to officially declare Juneteenth as a state holiday.
President Biden signed Juneteenth into law as a national holiday in June 2021. Enjoy, celebrate and rejoice in Juneteenth with a multitude of celebrations around the state of Pennsylvania.
- Pittsburgh is holding Juneteenth celebrations June 17-19
- Montgomery County is celebrating a series of events throughout the county
- Delaware County lists township and county organized events
- Longwood Gardens and Voices Underground will host Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton University’s Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies and author of author of Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and it's Urgent Lessons for Our Own and Democracy in Black
- Juneteenth Jamboree Gettysburg will include a Parade and children’s activities
- Juneteenth Lehigh Valley is June 18 at Steel Stacks and will feature 100 free books, education focused on the Black influence on Botany, music, food tastings, etc.
- Juneteenth Reading is celebrating from June 16-19
- Juneteenth Philadelphia Parade and Festival at Malcolm X Park, in Germantown, and dozens of other locations around Philly
Source:
David, M. (2020). National Archives Safeguards Original ‘Juneteenth’ General Order. National Archive News
This blog was included as part of the June 2022 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!