Juneteenth 2020

I wish it were not so, but there are people who have managed to not know about Juneteenth.  It is a story of a failure to communicate, coupled with the deep seated desire of slave owners to continue to own other people for as long as legally possible in the United States.  The Emancipation Proclamation became the law of the land on January 1, 1963.  The South had seceded from the Union, and in territory not under Union control, there were still slaves.  It could be argued this was  the moment when legal slavery ended, but since nothing changed for slaves, it doesn't seem worthy of celebrating.  The Civil War ended in April of 1865, but it took two more months for General Granger's troops to reach Texas and actually free the remaining slaves that had been sent there.  So that is the official end and the time to celebrate.