Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June 19, is a holiday that honors the last enslaved Black people in Texas learning that they were free. On June 19, 1865, federal troops marched on Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state. Even though the Civil War had been over for two months, sla...
Whether Juneteenth’s designation as a federal holiday has helped bridge this divide is a matter of debate. Writing for theDaily Beastin 2023,Ernest Owens, a journalist who grew up in Houston, described the day as the Black “Fourth of July—a celebration which reminded me that th...