Communities across the nation, including locally, celebrated Juneteenth on Monday, in honor of the day many consider the day slavery truly came to an end in the United States.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863—but the news wouldn’t reach those enslaved in Galveston, Texas until June 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and read the federal orders proclaiming all slaves as free. Hopkinsville Human Rights Executive Assistant Raychel Fort-Farmer says it wouldn’t become a holiday until nearly the 1980’s, and then it became a federal holiday in 2021.
She says it’s an important day for this country to recognize and she’s glad they are with several local celebrations and proclamations.
While Juneteenth is more widely known, here in this part of Kentucky, August 8 is widely recognized as Emancipation Day, as that’s when enslaved people of this region first learned of their freedom. Fort-Farmer says it’s celebrated locally each year and they’ll keep that tradition going.
The Human Rights Commission will host an August 8 Emancipation Day celebration in partnership with the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville, and more information will be released on that in the coming weeks.
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