Local citizens gathered at El Comal restaurant parking lot yesterday, June 19, 2024 to celebrate the national holiday known as Juneteenth.
Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday’s name is a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth”, as it was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.[8][9] Although this date commemorates enslaved people learning of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation, this only applied to former Confederate states. There remained legally enslaved people in states that never seceded from the Union. These people did not gain their freedom until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.(Source: Wikipedia)
The local group marched from El Comal’s parking lot to the Bibb County Chamber of Commerce where they were met and welcomed by Centreville Mayor Mike Oakley and local pastor Rev. Larry Moultrie.
