Juneteent 2021

Juneteenth marks the day African Americans in the state of Texas belatedly received word that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had freed the nation’s slaves.

“This year Representative Melanie Morgan took the bull by the horns and made it happen,” added Lovick. “It was just the year for it. You know a lot has happen in the last 13 months in this country with George Floyd and this was the time for Juneteenth as a state holiday.”

According to the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, the Juneteenth Flag represents a star of Texas bursting with new freedom throughout the land, over a new horizon. The Juneteenth Flag also represents a new freedom, a new people, and a new star.

On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, effectively freeing slaves in the South.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war.

In 1872, Yates and other Freedman’s town residents – Elias Dibble, Richard Allen and Richard Brock – purchased the 10 acres of land at the corner of Dowling Avenue (now Emancipation Avenue) and Elgin, and named it Emancipation Park, in honor of their newly received freedom, and as a place to organize and celebrate Juneteenth with their families for generations to come.