Monday, June 19 is ‘Juneteenth’.

Yes, it’s a federal holiday, but Juneteenth helps to explain more about our complicated history in the United States.

According to New York Times bestselling author Dr. Jemar Tisby, Juneteenth suggests that “knowing and acknowledging the history paints a complete picture of what freedom is in America.”

“It represents June 19th, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas first learned of their emancipation. Major General Granger of the Union Army came to Texas and issued General Order #3, in that he said, ‘all l enslaved people of Texas are free.'”

At the time, Texas was the farthest state West and the last to hear of freedom more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. As the news spread, the shock for some 250,000 enslaved Texans quickly turned to celebration (most of the celebrations over the years were done in local churches, in private).

Juneteenth combines the words ‘June’ and ‘Nineteenth,’ but according to Dr Tisby it was originally referred to as Jubilee Day – a biblical reference the book of Leviticus, which tells the story of how the Israelites celebrated their freedom from slavery in Egypt. Faith formed the foundation of what would become America’s most recent federal holiday.

Read more on the News Blog at wbfj.fm

https://www2.cbn.com/news/us/juneteenth-dive-biblical-roots-americas-newest-federal-holiday