Today is Juneteenth, the day we celebrate the end of legal slavery in the United States.
Two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, on June 19, 1865, soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas giving news that the war had ended and all enslaved people were free. We honor Juneteenth as our country’s second Independence Day.
This history has been systemically erased from our national history and school systems. It was only in 2021 that Biden signed federal legislation declaring Juneteenth a national holiday.
We continue the fight for racial justice and know that our movement for economic justice is intertwined. Our country’s deep-rooted history of slavery produced systems and cultures that undervalues our work as Black Americans; for example, Black women are paid 21% less than white women across all sectors. In our direct care sector, Black women make up 30% of workers – our shared fight for fair wages, safe workplaces, and beyond is our shared fight for racial justice!
Juneteenth is a day to come together with family, celebrate with our communities, and uplift our histories. It took decades of struggle, organizing, and united action to win the abolition of legal slavery and we honor the legacy of the earliest civil rights fighters today and every day.
