Ron Brown is excited that Gov. Tom Wolf’s pen is expected to work its magic on June 19, making Juneteenth an official state holiday.
“That would be perfect,” said Brown, who has been coordinating a Juneteenth celebration in the Germantown neighborhood for the last 20 years. “Things are moving quickly.”
House Bill 619 would designate June 19 in Pennsylvania as Juneteenth National Freedom Day. Observed by 45 other states and widely celebrated across Pennsylvania, Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas — the last Black slaves in the U.S. — learned they were finally freed after the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865.
The occasion occurred more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in which he freed the slaves in the “rebellious states” and technically ended 244 years of slavery in America. Read more here
“That would be perfect,” said Brown, who has been coordinating a Juneteenth celebration in the Germantown neighborhood for the last 20 years. “Things are moving quickly.”
House Bill 619 would designate June 19 in Pennsylvania as Juneteenth National Freedom Day. Observed by 45 other states and widely celebrated across Pennsylvania, Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas — the last Black slaves in the U.S. — learned they were finally freed after the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865.
The occasion occurred more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in which he freed the slaves in the “rebellious states” and technically ended 244 years of slavery in America. Read more here
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