My son Mac who works as a clerk in the Criminal Records Division at the Richland County Clerk of Court office mentioned to me this week that he would be off Monday for Juneteenth. Since I had never fully researched the meaning, I decided to do so and found out some interesting information on Juneteenth from my friends at Google!

I knew that in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared a formal end of slavery in this country, but with my research I learned that slaves in Galveston, Texas did not learn of this until 1865 that they were indeed free (now the world would know it within seconds with the internet!). The next year the people of Galveston celebrated this as Juneteenth which represents the date of the holiday, combining the words “June” and “nineteenth.” The month and day in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger led Union Soldiers to Galveston, Texas, to announce this life and earth changing news of the end of the war and the freedom of all enslaved people! Although many states celebrated it as a day of observance for many years, it was not until 2021 that it became a Federal Holiday. It will be celebrated on Monday, June 19th here in Columbia and across the Nation.

There will be a family celebration at Segra Park tomorrow, Saturday June 17th beginning at 1:30pm and free to the public for the 7th Annual Juneteenth Freedom Festival with live music, performances, guest speakers, vendors, and lots more! There are many Juneteenth events scheduled across the community over the weekend and the 2nd Annual parade will be Monday on Main Street in Downtown Columbia at 2:00pm.

The Mike Kelly Law Group stands for equality of all our fellow American people, and we support the recognition of this milestone event in the history of America!