emancipation proclamation
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Juneteenth Is Finally Entering the Mainstream American Consciousness. Now Make It An Official Federal Holiday
Forget the 4th of July! Juneteenth is the day that should be celebrated by all as a pivotal point in America’s freedom story. One-hundred-and-fifty-five years ago this year, the last of the enslaved black population in Galveston, Texas received word that they were officially free. Despite the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which…
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Tracing Your Roots: When Was My ‘Freedman’ Ancestor Freed?
A message board posting listing “freedmen” kin raises questions. Dear Professor Gates: My parents are no longer around to provide answers that will help me to trace my roots, so I hope you can help me. I have traced my father all the way back to my great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother, Hilliard (Hill) and Angaline (Angeline)…
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Today Is Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday—and a Good Time to Remind You He Did Not Free the Slaves
Monday is the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, who was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Kentucky. He was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lauded as one of this nation’s best and brightest leaders, Lincoln is often credited with freeing the slaves through his Emancipation Proclamation.…
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Hampton University’s Emancipation Oak Threatened by Highway Expansion
Hampton University leaders are concerned that their campus is being threatened by a Virginia Department of Transportation plan to widen Interstate 64 leading into the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. ABC 13News Now reports that VDOT officials recently met with university leaders to let them know that they may need to acquire some of their land…
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What My Father and Juneteenth Taught Me About Having ‘Expectations’
I wouldn’t know Juneteenth without my father. He’s the Texan. He grew up celebrating the holiday that started on June 19, 1865, when slaves on Galveston Island, Texas, finally learned they’d been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation two years prior. Even though he now lived in St. Louis, he’d always make the same jokey reference…