18 June 2021

Juneteenth: [Emancipation Day and Freedom Day]WIA DIS FOTO COME FROM,GETTY IMAGES

Wetin we call dis foto,Juneteenth has been celebrated in the US for over 150 years

Juneteenth na one of America oldest holidays, marking di end of over 200 years of slavery inside modern day US.

Di struggle for official recognition don last nearly as long.

Dem don dey celebrate am on 19 June since as early as 1866.

Although Texas become di first state to observe Juneteenth as an official holiday in 1980.

E don take more than fourty years alias four decades for odas to copy am at a national level.

But di idea don gain support following di death of George Floyd, di Black Lives Matter movement and di election of Joe Biden as president.

Now one bill to make am a federal holiday don pass through di US Senate (all senators vote for Juneteenth unanimously)

And House of representatives (415 votes na in favour, while 14 dey against).

President Biden sign Juneteenth into law for one White House event on Thursday afternoon.

So wetin be Juneteenth?

Juneteenth: [Emancipation Day and Freedom Day]WIA DIS FOTO COME FROM,GETTY IMAGES

Wetin we call dis foto,Slavery bin last for over two centuries inside wetin be now di United States

Di name comes from a combination of "June" and "nineteenth".

And na date when dem believe say slavery finally don end in di US.

E also dey known as It is also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day.

President Abraham Lincoln bin issue di Emancipation Proclamation - wey formally free all slaves - more than two years earlier.

But e take time, and di end of di American civil war, before e become a reality for everyone.

Texas na one of di Confederate states - a group of slave-holding states wey fight against di Union in di Civil War.

E be di last state to surrender to di Union Army, and also di last wia enslaved African-Americans learn of dia freedom.

By di time Union General Gordon Granger read di document in di city of Galveston on 19 June 1865, di war don end and Confederate sympathiser don kill Lincoln inside one theatre.

[Juneteeth] Campaign for a national holiday

Juneteenth: [Emancipation Day and Freedom Day]WIA DIS FOTO COME FROM,GETTY IMAGES

Wetin we call dis foto,E take 55 years for Juneteenth to be officially recognised as a holiday nationwide

Nikola Hannah-Jones, on New York Times journalist and author of an award-winning series on di history of slavery in di US, na one of di voices calling for a national endorsement of Juneteenth.

"Say di US no get an Emancipation Day to mark our abolishing an institution antithetical to our founding ideals of freedom and liberty dey speak to di ongoing cover-up and our inability.

"Still, to acknowledge wetin we do and who we be. Juneteenth gatz be a national holiday," she tweet on 11 June, 2020.

But dis year, di US goment dey make dat happen.

During di debate inside di House, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, one Texas Democrat, say:

She bin introduce di legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday "to commemorate di end of chattel slavery, America original sin, and to bring about celebration".

Some 46 out of 50 states (and di District of Columbia) already observed or officially dey celebrate Juneteenth in some way.

And civil rights organisations bin don try to influence alias lobby for years to make di event federal.

Last year, a number of corporations - including Apple, Nike and Twitter - announce say di date go be a paid holiday.

Also on dat list na di American Football governing body, di National Football League.

Di NFL don chop criticisms in di past few years for avoid di former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick dey popular for di "taking di knee [kneel down]" during di national anthem in protest against racism and police brutality.

How does Juneteenth relate to the Black Lives Matter movement?

Juneteenth: [Emancipation Day and Freedom Day]WIA DIS FOTO COME FROM,GETTY IMAGES

Wetin we call dis foto,Di lobby for official status for Juneteenth get push from TV series Black-ish

Activists don promote awareness of di date in recent years, including nationwide events organised by Black Lives Matter movement.

Di push include a Juneteenth-themed episode of Black-ish, one US comedy series showing di lives of one American upper-middle class family.

Di episode, wey show originally in October 2017, and dem show am again last year, openly ask for Juneteenth to be recognised as a national holiday.

Ongoing protests and increasing awareness of systemic racism don give Juneteenth new prominence.

US goment don ever apologise for slavery?

Juneteenth: [Emancipation Day and Freedom Day]WIA DIS FOTO COME FROM,GETTY IMAGES

Wetin we call dis foto,President Clinton bin apologise for slave trade in di US during one visit to Africa in 1998

Democrat US President Bill Clinton bin tok sorry alias apologise for di slave trade during one trip to Africa in 1998.

Then years later, di US House of Representatives issue apology wey also include di decades of segregation laws against black Americans.

The move was followed the year after by the US Senate.

But for many, dis apology dem no go far enough.

E get calls inside America for reparations to descendants of slaves.

Although di issue dey deeply divisive: inside one poll wey dem conduct in 2019, 74% of black Americans show support for payments while 85% of white Americans opposed dem.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5542205&forum_id=2Reputation#47756143)