Diversity Task Force - Diversity Dispatch - June 2021 - Juneteenth

A significant part of the mission of MPI Georgia’s Diversity Task Force is to bring awareness to our members. This can be accomplished through education about holidays such as Juneteenth, also considered as America’s second Independence Day.

Juneteenth is a combination of June and 19^th and signifies the anniversary date of June 19, 1865, when the enslaved in Texas were emancipated in Galveston by Union Major General Gordon Granger – two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth was more commonly known as Jubilee Day through the end of the 19^th century with celebrations beginning in 1866, making it the longest-running African American holiday. Today, many observances involve readings of the Emancipation Proclamation and singing of traditional spirituals such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” otherwise known as the “Black National Anthem.”

Many businesses, such as the NFL and Nike now recognize Juneteenth as a holiday and it is listed as such under Apple and Google’s calendars. We can assume that with more awareness, there will be continued growing support for this impactful date to be more formally recognized.

Did you know? The Emancipation Proclamation only outlawed slavery in the states that seceded from the Union; however, slavery remained legal in the “border” states of Delaware and Kentucky until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December of the same year. Some Native American Territories continued enslavement for another year.