This June, we celebrated JUNETEENTH to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP Youth Council hosted a Juneteenth Celebration on June 19, 2021, at Carrboro Town Commons, 301 W. Main St. Before the festivities on this historic day, remarks were shared by Kendall Lytle of NAACP Youth Council, local historian Danita Mason-Hogans, Carrboro Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Foushee, Orange County Board of Commissioners Chair Renee Price, North Carolina Senator Valerie Foushee, and Chapel Hill Poet Laureate CJ Suitt.
Watch the historic speeches made at Carrboro Town Commons this Juneteenth 2021. Included in the Town of Carrboro YouTube playlist, “Celebrating Black America," the video is available at https://youtu.be/WsgBfPDfxF0
Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration marking the end of slavery in the United States, is observed on June 19. It was originally celebrated June 19, 1865, the day Union soldiers told enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, the war was over and they were free. The news arrived more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
The Carrboro Town Council unanimously voted on July 14, 2020, to recognize June 19 as a paid town holiday. President Joe Biden signed legislation on June 17, 2021, establishing the new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as president. Juneteenth is the 12th federal holiday.
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