As we continue to cultivate wellness within the community, we turn our focus toward the importance of celebrating Juneteenth.
On June 19th 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves to be free, thousands of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were finally informed that they were, in fact, free. These people were the last enslaved Americans to learn that their freedom had been won.
Today, Juneteenth is widely celebrated on June 19th to commemorate the true end of slavery and acknowledge that there is more to be done in the realm of equality and justice for all.
We celebrate that the descedants
of Africa, Children of the Sun, are reunited with the Sun’s beautiful glaze. With Freedom. As part of our celebration, berkshire’s Milan Williams penned the following poem to express the importance of Juneteenth.
“Children of the Sun” you were once called; and yet it will be years
before you view the suns warmth as kin.
The affection for its shine, will be replaced with strife, its beautiful glow
creates streams of sweat rolling down your neck.
The sun beaming down on your face, radiating off your skin- darkening by its rays.
Years and years on end.
Until one day your eyes rise to the bright light
and a shadow eclipses the sun’s consistent reach – to inform you
that you are...
Finally. free?
On Tuesday, June 15th, 2021, the United States Senate unanimously passed a bill officially making Juneteenth a federal holiday, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
