JUNETEENTH

 CELEBRATING THE END OF SLAVERY in the U.S.

We are beginning to see more and more holidays celebrating different cultures, diversity and other countries, and it is about time! We need to celebrate more, love more, respect more and educate and share more!

I wasn't truly aware of Juneteenth or what it was, only when it is. In June! So I started reading, and reading, and reading all that I could to try to understand the 'big' picture. It's not just about summer festivals and tons of great food! It's one of the largest major events in our country's history, the abolishment of SLAVERY! In many places, Juneteenth has become a multicultural holiday.

The good church-centered community gatherings became more and more as the years went by. Folks started celebrating with food festivals. Time to honor the past, the past lives and sacrifices of others. Honor those now who participate in joyful celebration, sharing and teaching our children.

I have begun creating JUNETEENTH greeting cards for this occasion as well as for those having birthdays on June 19th. Please do visit my card shop for these cards that you can customize inside. If you like, customize the text inside and then have Greeting Card Universe send it to your recipient!

From Wikipedia:

President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery in Texas and the other states in rebellion against the Union almost two and a half years earlier. Enforcement of the Proclamation generally relied on the advance of Union troops. Texas, as the most remote of the slave states, had a low presence of Union troops as the American Civil War ended; thus enforcement there had been slow and inconsistent before Granger's announcement. Although Juneteenth generally celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, it was still legal and practiced in two Union border states (Delaware and Kentucky) until later that year, when ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished chattel slavery nationwide in December. Additionally, Indian Territories that had sided with the Confederacy, namely the Choctaw, did not release those enslaved until 1866.