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Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and independence. Despite local committees' best efforts, with thebiggerpicture each new slight, with each new segregation law, with each new textbook whitewashing and brutal lynching in the South, African Americans felt increasingly disconnected from their history, so that by the time World War II shook the nation, they could no longer faithfully celebrate freedom in a land that still rendered them second-class citizens worthy of dying for their country but not worthy of being honored or treated equally for it. Hence, the wartime Double V campaign.

More traditional and just as popular was the barbecuing, through which Juneteenth participants could share in the spirit and aromas that their ancestors - the newly emancipated African Americans, would have experienced during their ceremonies. The news took so long to reach slaves in Texas in part due to fighting that continued even after the surrender of the Confederacy that ended the Civil War, according to historians.

It is finally time to declare Juneteenth, also referred to as Emancipation Day, a federal holiday. Communities would read the Emancipation Proclamation as part of the tradition, which was especially significant during Reconstruction, when the holiday reinforced hope.

Juneteenth reminds us of both the unimaginable injustice of slavery and the incomparable joy that must have attended emancipation. They pushed to erect statues of Confederate symbols and generals all throughout the country, and pushed to change textbook portrayal of enslaved Africans as happy and docile in plantation life, but savage and immoral as freed people,” Hankins said.

Milwaukee , Philadelphia and Buffalo , New York, are home to the country's three largest annual festivals, featuring everything from parades to Miss Juneteenth Day pageants. An examination of Juneteenth illustrates how deep those racist roots go, said Stevenson, who has taught at UCLA for nearly 30 years, specializing in the history of American slavery.

The process began when County Executive David Crowley declared June 19 a holiday by executive order last week. The celebration of June 19 came to be known as " Juneteenth " and grew with more participation from descendants as they treated the day as their Independence Day, according to the Texas State Library.

Al Edwards put forward the bill making Texas the first state to grant this emancipation celebration. To fully understand the, now widely celebrated, holiday, we have to start with the Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed in the midst of the Civil War.