SDARJ to discuss history, meaning of Juneteenth

The Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice will present A Celebration of Juneteenth from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 14, at its town hall meeting via Zoom. The program will include a presentation on the history and significance of the new national holiday along with original poetry, dance, music and reminiscences of Juneteenths past.

For more than 100 years, Juneteenth has been celebrated annually on June 19 to mark the date that some of the last enslaved people in the Confederacy became free in 1865. This was two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln and seven months after the ratification of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

President Joe Biden signed a bill June 17, 2021, declaring Juneteenth a national holiday, and Delaware declared Juneteenth a state holiday in October. A representative of the Delaware Juneteenth Association, which actively promoted state and national commemoration of the end of chattel slavery in the U.S., will join the online celebration.

Register to attend the town hall at tinyurl.com/2p95sb7a or go to sdarj.org for more information.