[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10990]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               JUNETEENTH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 20, 2002

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the historic 
significance of June 19th, known as Juneteenth, a day which marks the 
end of slavery across America and the independence of African 
Americans.
  Juneteenth began in the great State of Texas when Major General 
Gordon Granger of the Union Army led his troops into the city of 
Galveston. There, on June 19, 1865, he officially proclaimed freedom 
for slaves in that State. Note that this was two and a half years after 
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which had become 
official January 1, 1863. Thus it was on Juneteenth that the African 
American slaves of Texas and other parts of the South celebrated the 
final execution of the Emancipation Proclamation, giving them their 
freedom forever.
  The celebration of Juneteenth which has not until recently received 
its rightful day of national appreciation is not only a showcase of the 
African American community's positive contributions to the American way 
of life, but it also makes a statement for all Americans that the 
United States is truly the ``Land of the Free.'' Juneteenth is an 
expression and extension of American freedom and, like the Fourth of 
July, a time for all Americans to celebrate our independence, human 
rights, civil rights and freedom.

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