06/19/2021
I recently learned the significance of this day - in HONOR OF JUNETEENTH 🖤
“None of us are free until all of us are free.” The Grand Mother of Juneteenth, Opal Lee
June 19th, 1865, marked the end of 400 years of slavery in the United States. Now a national holiday, thanks to the activism of Opal Lee collecting over 3 million signatures delivered to congress, commemorating the moment of emancipation in Texas, where more than 250,000 enslaved Black people received news on June 19, 1865 — more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
“I want people to see that Juneteenth can be the unifier that brings us all together and get people talking about the tough issues that are the residual effects of our collective histories. We can do so much more together than we can do apart,”
“You can't talk about the American history without recognizing 400 years of bo***ge of the African Americans who were kidnapped and forcibly bought to America," Gwen Ragsdale, Executive Director of Lest We Forget Slavery Museum in Philadelphia.
“If we’ve been taught to hate, we can be taught to love. And it’s our responsibility to teach the person to love that we know needs that lesson,” Opal Lee.
We, the people, shape our country. Black votes matter.
We can help bring Juneteenth education into classrooms through federal higher education policy by appealing to local, state, and national policymakers to support and cultivate a robust high school civics education.
BUT, the only way to do that is to protect our right to vote - to protect black people’s right to vote - to keep Democracy alive.
See link in bio to keep the vote alive so that we are all free to continue to celebrate the “end” of enslaved black people in the United States of America 🇺🇸 Save the black vote 🖤