The June Festival rose to the forefront in 2020, largely due to the killing of several black Americans, the subsequent anti-racist protests, and the Trump campaign rally originally planned to be held on the same date.

This is a reminder of the history behind the date.

What is June?

June Festival celebrates the liberation of African Americans from slavery. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger of the Federal Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed the slaves that they had been released.

He was actually a bit late. More than two years ago, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. By June 19, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated, and the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery in the United States would be approved. A few months later.

There are many theories as to why it took so long for the news to reach Texas. In fact, this was the last state in the Confederacy to receive news.

There used to be such a story A messenger was murdered on the way to Texas With the news and that Slave owners keep themselves secret This way they can keep the workforce intact.

Some historians think it’s more likely Due to the lack of Union soldiers during the warUntil Robert E. Lee finally surrendered in 1865, Texas remained largely a Confederate state.

So, on June 19, news of approximately 250,000 slaves in the state came when Granger-assigned to command the Texas Department-performed one of his primary duties proclaiming General Order No. 3: ” The people of Texas were told that according to the announcement of the Chief Executive of the United States, all slaves were free.”

According to the Library of Congress, “As the news spread, spontaneous celebrations broke out, and these celebrations triggered annual events to commemorate this day.”

The name Juneteenth is a combination of June and 19th. It is also called June Independence Day, Freedom Day and Liberation Day.

How is it celebrated?

The June Festival celebrations were first held in Texas in 1866. In the next few years, as the number of participants increased, African Americans needed more space to hold celebrations. In 1872, a group of black ministers and supporters raised $1,000 to buy a piece of land in Houston, which would become BJiefang Park.

When the current slaves moved to other states, they brought a tradition of celebrating June Festival. From 1916 to 1970, approximately 6 million African Americans from rural southern regions moved to cities in the North, Midwest, and West.

Over the years, the day’s celebrations have risen and fallen. Some people think that looking back at the painful past is too much, rather than focusing on the future.

But in 1968, a few months after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, it received attention again. On June 19 of the same year, his Poor People’s Movement held June Unity Day. It attracted 50,000 to 100,000 people, with speakers including King’s friend and activist Ralph Abernathy, and his widow Coretta Scott King.

Today, the United States is celebrating it in large and small cities. Some cities hold parades, Miss Juneteenth pageants and public parties. Many cities also have barbecues in the backyard.

Where did you observe the June Festival before?

Before Biden declared it a federal holiday, 49 states and the District of Columbia had passed legislation to treat it as a holiday or an anniversary.

The only state that has not done so is South Dakota. North Dakota and Hawaii have both begun to recognize it in the past year.

Texas first declared June Day as a statewide statutory holiday in 1980.

Last year, the Governor of New York State signed an executive order recognizing that June Day is a paid holiday for state employees to commemorate the emancipation of American slaves.

“This is a day that all of us should reflect on. This day is especially important at this moment in history,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In recent years, celebrations have also spread to other countries, including Canada.

Watch | Parade held in Vancouver last June:

This is the city’s first large-scale June festival protest, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States more than 150 years ago. 1:25

Why did it become such a flashpoint last year?

In early June 2020, former President Donald Trump announced that he will hold his first political rally in months in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19.

One of the most serious incidents of racial violence in American history occurred in Tulsa: the 1921 genocide. Crowds of whites attacked African Americans and their businesses, killing as many as 300 people.

Trump told Fox News at the time that his rally date on June 19 was not intentional. He said: “This will be a real celebration. This is an interesting date. Not for this reason, but it is an interesting one. The date.”

However, after several days of criticism and calling on him to change it, Trump’s campaign postponed the rally until the next night.

Major companies celebrating June

In 2019, Google made headlines because it did not use the usual Google doodles to mark holidays When Davian Chester, a digital artist from Georgia, called on the tech giants and offered his own version.

But in 2020, as tensions have increased after the killings Ahmed Abery, George Freud with Reshad BrooksAs well as large-scale anti-racist protests in the United States and around the world, many large companies and organizations have decided to recognize Juneteenth.

Nike, Twitter, Square, Lyft, and the NFL all provide paid time off for American employees.

Nike CEO John Donahoe wrote in a memo to employees that commemorating June is “an important opportunity to better commemorate and celebrate black history and culture.”

Popular culture reference

In 2016, Donald Glover’s series Atlanta Produced a series called Juneteenth, in which the main characters attended a high-end party-which is very different from the celebrations their ancestors might have attended.

Sitcom black I also made a Juneteenth episode in 2017, which is more like a history lesson-despite a lot of imitations. The music group The Roots reinterpreted the end of slavery in the animation as part of the show.

the film Miss June Released in June last year. It tells the story of a former beauty queen who prepares for her daughter to participate in the annual Miss June beauty contest.

In 1999, the second novel by American novelist Ralph Ellison, June 11, Published after death. Penguin Random House describes it as “a wonderful exploration of all the heroic idealism, moral contradictions, and still problematic racial identity of the American soul.”