Also known as Emancipation Day, Black Independence Day or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived with federal troops in Galveston, Texas, and issued an order informing the last enslaved people in Texas that they were free. This came more than two months after the end of the Civil War and 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Southern states.
It wasn’t until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December 1865 that slavery was abolished throughout the entire country.
Why is it important?
Juneteenth marks a date of major significance in American history and shows us that freedom and racial equality have always been a hard-fought battle for black Americans – a battle that continues to this day.It is a reminder that "nobody is free until everybody is free." It should be celebrated as the day when all Americans were liberated and created equal. It should be a day to reflect, to learn, and grow as a nation and as a people.
Juneteenth is a national holiday
President Biden on Thursday, June 17, 2021, signed a bill to recognize Juneteenth — the celebration to commemorate the end of chattel slavery in the United States — as a federal holiday. Juneteenth National Independence Day became the 12th legal public holiday, including Inauguration Day, and the first new one created since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was signed into law in 1983 by then-President Ronald Reagan.
UCSF EVENTS
Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom
Thursday, June 15, 2023 | 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
UCSF Oakland Outpatient Center, 744 52nd St., Oakland, CA 94609
This Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom promises to be an unforgettable event, where community members, healthcare professionals, and supporters come together to honor the significance of Juneteenth. Join us for a fun-filled event with raffle excitement, the prestigious Dr. Vivien T. Thomas scholarship presentation, black-owned business vendors, delectable food and drinks, and a wonderful performance by a live band. Let's commemorate freedom, diversity, and unity in a spirit of joy and togetherness.
Live Entertainment Music & Dance: 11:30AM - 1:00PM
Food & Prizes: 11:30AM - 12:30PM
Free Raffle: Free Chick-Fil-A For A Year
Back Owned Business Vendors 10AM-2PM
Check out our VIDEO of the Juneteenth event on Instagram.
Juneteenth x Pride Film Screening
Monday, June 19, 2023 1pm
On behalf of the CARE Program, Multicultural Resource Center and the LGBT Center (Office of Diversity and Outreach) and Black Women's Health and Livelihood Initiative, we invite all members of UCSF to join in attending a film screening event in honor of Juneteenth and Pride Month.
We will provide 20 tickets to UCSF affiliates (staff, students, faculty) to the in-person screening at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco (first reserve basis, we will email you a confirmation) for film called Chocolate Babies, an independent film that centers the stories of Black queer HIV+ activists and drag queens.
There will also be a potential opportunity for an in-person OR virtual space for reflection and dialogue of the movie on Wednesday, July 12th at 2pm.
DPBS Juneteenth Freedom Day Celebration
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 1pm to 2pm
Pritzker Building, Garden Terrace (Level 4)View map
675 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Following our town hall, all DPBS faculty, staff, and trainees are invited to join us on the garden terrace for a social gathering celebrating Juneteenth Freedom Day.
Juneteenth-inspired refreshments will be provided and there will be cool giveaways (while supplies last)!
By Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
HISTORY OF JUNETEENTH
Opal Lee is known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth
Lee, who's from Fort Worth, Texas, sat in the front row as Biden, 78, signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. She also received a standing ovation from the crowd at the behest of the president, who called her an "incredible woman."
The moment was a lifetime in the making for Lee, a dedicated activist who has spent decades working to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. The cause is exceptionally personal for Lee, whose home was set on fire by white rioters on Juneteenth in 1939.
Juneteenth Flag
The original Juneteenth flag was created in 1997 by the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF) founder, Ben Haith. While the Juneteenth flag has the same colors as the American flag, it is a unique symbol of American freedom and Black history.
The original red, white and blue design later underwent revisions in the 2000s, and the date June 19, 1865 was added to the flag. According to the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, the Juneteenth flag includes an exaggerated star of Texas “bursting with new freedom throughout the land.”
Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
A Transcription
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
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