** This article was updated Friday, June 18, 2021 at 6:35 am.
By KATHLEEN MULROY
Juneteenth—sometimes called Freedom Day or Jubilee Day—celebrates an important historical event in the lives of enslaved people who lived in Texas. But the holiday has come to have a deeper meaning for many people.
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution—The Emancipation Proclamation—which freed all enslaved people.
But slave owners and government officials in Texas refused to tell more than 250,000 enslaved people they had been freed. So, for another two-and-a-half years, African Americans continued to live under the yoke of slavery, unaware they were legally free.
This changed when, on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers under the command of Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, Texas to announce the end of both the Civil War and of slavery.
That date came to be called Juneteenth.
The day became an official, federal holiday when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth Holiday into law on June 17, 2021. Before then, only 47 states and the District of Columbia recognized it as a state or ceremonial holiday.
In 2020, the Director of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. Lonnie Bunch (who is the first African American and the first historian to direct the Smithsonian), explained why the holiday is important.
“In many ways, Juneteenth is both a local story and a national story. It really is, in some ways, the second Independence Day in this country.
For many people, Juneteenth raises the fundamental question of the power and impact of freedom and the fragility of freedom… and (the importance of) celebrating that freedom.”
In Montana, Juneteenth was officially recognized by the state government as a holiday in May of 2017. There was a celebratory signing at Billings Senior High School, where then-Governor Bullock joined with longtime African American Montanans and signed the bill into law.
Past Juneteenth celebrations in the state have included potlucks, movies, and speakers at the University of Montana, Missoula, and similar events in Billings and Bozeman.
Kalispell, Great Falls, Whitefish, and Bozeman are hosting events to celebrate the new Federal holiday. MSN
