[ti:What Is Juneteenth in the US?]
[al:Arts and Culture]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-06-19]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Today is Juneteenth in the United States.
[00:05.36]The holiday is over 150 years old but it is still unknown to many people.
[00:15.22]It marks the end of official slavery in the country and celebrates the promise of freedom.
[00:25.58]The word "Juneteenth" combines the month "June" with the number 19. 
[00:32.34]It recalls June 19, 1865, the day troops from the Union side of the American Civil War arrived in the city of Galveston, Texas.
[00:47.81]At that time, Texas was part of the Confederate States of America, the group of Southern states fighting the Union for the right to keep slaves. 
[01:00.19]The 250,000 enslaved people in Texas did not know that the president at the time -- Abraham Lincoln -- had declared them legally free.
[01:15.60]In fact, Lincoln had declared them legally free more than two years earlier - on January 1, 1863.
[01:27.39]But Texas was in the far west of the country and removed from much of the fighting. 
[01:36.12]Few Union soldiers were there to communicate or enforce Lincoln's order.
[01:43.34]Confederate slaveholders did not agree with it. 
[01:48.01]They did not want to lose the labor they got for free.
[01:53.16]So, no one told the enslaved people -- until June 19, when a Union general and a few thousand soldiers arrived to take control of the area.
[02:08.01]The general quickly read an announcement.
[02:11.72]He informed the people that the Union had won the Civil War and that "all slaves are free."
[02:20.52]Many formerly enslaved people immediately began to celebrate.
[02:28.29]As soon as they could, some left Texas and joined family members in other states. 
[02:35.84]Some remained and built new lives.
[02:39.88]They remembered June 19 in the years that followed. 
[02:44.64]In time, their children and grandchildren celebrated it as a holiday, too.
[02:52.45]Historically, Juneteenth has involved cooking and eating outdoors, listening to music, saying prayers and wearing nice clothes.
[03:04.82]Betty Anderson, who is a descendant of enslaved people, spoke to The Federalist magazine about her Juneteenth traditions. 
[03:16.74]She said the day includes stories about people who continued to fight for equal rights because "freedom from slavery did not bring freedom for the African-American."
[03:30.45]Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. made a similar point in the online magazine The Root. 
[03:39.42]He said one of the important things about Juneteenth is that it is a positive, powerful celebration, even in the face of discrimination.
[03:53.35]For example, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Texas officials refused to permit black people to gather in public spaces.
[04:06.92]So, black families and friends celebrated Juneteenth near rivers and lakes, Gates said.
[04:15.98]In time, they bought their own parks where they could celebrate.
[04:22.23]During the country's Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, some Black Americans and activists embraced Juneteenth as a way to connect them to Black history.
[04:39.37]Texas became the first state to declare the day an official state holiday in 1980.
[04:47.66]In June 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth as the country's newest national holiday. 
[04:59.31]Biden said it was a day to "remember the moral stain and terrible toll of slavery on our country." 
[05:11.42]He added, "But it is a day that also reminds us of our incredible capacity to heal, hope, and emerge from our darkest moments with purpose and resolve."
[05:28.28]Last year, at least 28 American states and the city government of Washington, D.C. recognized Juneteenth as a public holiday, a Pew Research Center study said.
[05:44.06]On the history of Juneteenth, the National Museum of African American History & Culture wrote that although the event remains largely unknown to most Americans, it is considered the "country's second independence day" by Black Americans.
[06:06.27]"The historical legacy of Juneteenth shows the value of never giving up hope in uncertain times," it said.
[06:17.92]I'm Caty Weaver.