Happy Juneteenth

on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers sailed into Galveston, Texas, announced the end of the Civil War, and read aloud a general order freeing the quarter-million slaves residing in the state. It's likely that none of them had any idea that they had actually been freed more than two years before [with the Emancipation Proclomation].

It was truly a day of mass emancipation. It has become known as Juneteenth. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815936,00.html#ixzz0rLoZw21t

In recognizing the history of American freedom, advocates say, Juneteenth is as deserving of recognition as Independence Day.

"We may have gotten there in different ways and at different times," says Meyers of blacks and whites, "but you can't really celebrate freedom in America by just going with the Fourth of July." Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815936,00.html#ixzz0rLo5UBra