Download my Juneteenth Fact Sheet online and at the bottom of this post leave us an E-Mail address so that you can follow and be the first to learn of new, downloadable, printable stickers, and invitations, for Juneteenth from us here at the Juneteenth Handbook. What is the Juneteenth Fact Sheet, it's a collection of facts put together by me based on conversations I have had with friends and family over the years about Juneteenth? Not long after finding out about the Juneteenth Celebration myself, I began to realize that a lot of the facts and figures being quoted to me by different friends, family, and organizers were not matching up. For example, Juneteenth represents the end of slavery in the United States. Well, kinda, and not for all the slave population in this nation at that time.
In my research that followed for my own video
presentation about Juneteenth, titled A Time to be Remembered, A Juneteenth
Story, even more, clarifying information came to light (for me) so when my
video project was finished and the companion book I promised (The Juneteenth
Handbook) was complete I decided to do my own Juneteenth Fact Sheet to clarify
things like it was actually the 13th Amendment that ended slavery throughout the U.S. and the first official Juneteenth Celebration, was actually held June 19th,
1866, on the first year anniversary of General Gordon Granger's reading of
General Order No. 3 the year before in 1865. Not gigantic deals I know, but, to
me still important enough to mention.
For those of you who don't know, the word Juneteenth is a mixture of the words June and 19th, which represents the teenths of the month, in long-ago slave speak. The celebration is also known by other names like Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, June 19th, and American African Independence Day. Because Juneteenth did for the American Africans what the 4th of July, 1776 celebration did not do for American Africans, Juneteenth recognized African Americans as citizens of this nation and was quickly followed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution.
The Juneteenth Fact Sheet and the Juneteenth Handbook E-Book are both downloadable history worth knowing. June 19th is one of the best days I know of the reflect on the meaning of the Juneteenth Celebration. Keeping in mind all of the freedoms the black Americans gained, and all the relief, and feelings of a job well done by all of the black and white abolitionists. Keep in mind that there are just as many descendants of the abolitionist around today as there are descendants of the former slaves.
Juneteenth is a good time to remember also that the slaves both before, and after their freedom had an active part in building this nation, and because freedom isn't free some of the slaves also had a very active part in fighting with the military of this nation for their freedom all of which should make Juneteenth and American Holiday worth celebrating. Leave a comment and share with me how you first learned about the Juneteenth Celebration.
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