Churches all over the United States are hosting events to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in America after the Civil War. The holiday traces its roots back to June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived at Galveston, Texas to announce the Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863, which freed enslaved African Americans. This week, President Joe Biden signed a law establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
"Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and a promise of a brighter morning to come. This is a day of profound - in my view - profound weight and profound power," President Biden said at the signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. "A day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take - what I've long called 'America's original sin.'"
According to NBC News, the House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to declare Juneteenth a national federal holiday, just one day after the bill passed the Senate without any debate. All 14 no votes came from Republicans. Today, Juneteenth, which is also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day or Liberation Day, is celebrated in venues and churches across the U.S.
The Christian Post reported that Garfield Memorial Church of South Euclid, Ohio celebrated the holiday before and this weekend will host a community wide event in collaboration with city officials and citizens. Its lead pastor Chip Freed shared that they will highlight "black-owned businesses and vendors" and will provide a "tent for building bridges, conversations," and other family activities, such as performances and a "kickball with the cops" sporting event.
Freed shared that the Garfield Memorial Church in Ohio is a "national teaching church in the Mosaix Global Network seeking to build more healthy multiethnic churches in an increasingly polarized society." The church has 1,200 active members "with no one ethnic group comprising more than 52% of [the] congregation." Freed said he hopes the events would inspire "a sense of historical awareness" and a "spirit of reconciliation."
Manchester Church of Christ in Connecticut is set to celebrate Juneteenth to commemorate the end of slavery for the first time this year. The church's Gail Bouffard shared that while the congregation had "historically been predominantly a white one," it has slowly begun to be more diverse. The church co-planned this year's groundbreaking event with its sister congregation, the Northside Church of Christ with the goal of providing "the history of and context for Juneteenth, through the lens of faith."
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Montclair, Virginia, which annually held a Juneteenth pilgrimage to Petersburg, Virginia to tour its many historic African American landmarks, has chosen to host a virtual event this year called the Juneteenth Poetry Jam featuring Kim Miller, the first African American Poet Laureate for Prince William County.
Mt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church and Princeton United Methodist Church in Princeton, New Jersey teamed up for their first joint celebration of Juneteenth, which will feature a cookout lunch at Community Park South Pavilions, during which hopes to "build foundations for long-term, harmonious relationships," event co-chair Dana Dreibelbis said.
These churches across the U.S. are commemorating the end of slavery by celebrating Juneteenth and acknowledging that there is a lot more work to be done. As President Biden said, "The emancipation of enslaved Black Americans didn't mark the end of America's work to deliver on the promise of equality; it only marked the beginning."
