juneteenth
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Charleston, SC, Apologizes for Its Role During the Slave Trade in City Council Resolution
On Tuesday, as Juneteenth—the holiday marking the end of slavery—was observed, the City Council of Charleston, S.C., decided to adopt a resolution apologizing for the city’s role in the slave trade. The city was once a key seaport in the slave trade, a location where some 40 percent of enslaved people first set foot on…
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10 Black Things I Did While Watching Last Night’s Super-Black Season 4 Premiere of Black-ish
After last night, the ABC show Black-ish should change its name to Black-AF. Kenya Barris and crew decided that they wanted the crown for blackest prime-time television episode of all time (appropriately titled “Juneteenth”) and basically created a live-action version of a super-black episode of Family Guy complete with musical numbers, the Roots and the…
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Atlanta Episode 9: "Juneteenth" Recap
As a child I was always hyper-aware of the attempts at social climbing my parents made to move my siblings and me up the ladder rungs of black society. There were the Jack and Jill activities with the children of the Pastor at our local Megachurch, the etiquette classes that taught present-day me to chew…
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Update on Opal Lee's Journey to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday
The petition on Opal Lee’s hope to make Juneteenth a national holiday ran out of time Tuesday when it didn’t reach the goal of 100,000 signatures, the Star-Telegram reports. However, that hasn’t stopped Lee, 89, from continuing on. “Whether we have 100,000 signatures or not, she is still walking. Her goal is to get an audience with…
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90-Year-Old Walking From Fort Worth, Texas, to DC to Make History
Opal Lee, 90, is an activist who is fighting for Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating when the last American slaves were freed in Texas, to be made a national holiday, Fox 4 News reports. Lee is walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., and needs 100,000 signatures on an online petition at the White House website. She…
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What My Father and Juneteenth Taught Me About Having ‘Expectations’
I wouldn’t know Juneteenth without my father. He’s the Texan. He grew up celebrating the holiday that started on June 19, 1865, when slaves on Galveston Island, Texas, finally learned they’d been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation two years prior. Even though he now lived in St. Louis, he’d always make the same jokey reference…