Juneteenth Celebration

The Effingham County Branch NAACP's Juneteenth Celebration will take place Saturday, June 18 from 3-6 p.m. at the old Effingham County Recreation Department Gym at 808 Ga. Hwy 119, Springfield, near the Springfield Public Library. there will be speakers, entertainers, food and drinks provided at no cost to those who attend.

The Juneteenth Committee, Chairman Lucy  Powell and committee members, which include Jennifer Golden and Tony Chiariello, extend an invitation to the entire community to celebrate this joyous occasion. The event promises to be educational, for sure, but certainly considerable fun as well. 

Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of the slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. In fact, these former slaves had been freed already by the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863.

However, the news traveled slowly in those days, and the freed "slaves" did not know that they had been freed. On June 19, 1865, Union troops in Galveston, Texas, informed the slaves that indeed they were freed. As one can imagine, quite a celebration took place!

Over the many years, the celebration, which became an annual event in Texas, began to expand. Juneteenth has been celebrated in the South in an increasing fashion, including, of course, in Georgia, most notably in Savannah. Here in Effingham County, the NAACP began its annual celebration in 2019.

On June 18, 2021,  President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday. June 19 will henceforth be known as Juneteenth National Independence Day..