Kevin Kamenetz
Juneteenth
June 11, 2011
It Is a Great Day To Be in Randallstown
On July 4, 1776, our founding fathers declared America’s independence from the British Empire and founded a nation declared on the principle that all men were created equal. In just under a month, people throughout Baltimore County will celebrate this important anniversary with parades, picnics, and fireworks.
We are gathered here today to celebrate a day that is much less well known than the 4th of July, but just as important. In June of 1865, Union soldiers landed on the island of Galveston, Texas and the African Americans who were held in bondage on that island learned two and a half years late that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation and that they were now and forever, free. Upon hearing that news, those men and women held jubilant celebrations to commemorate their freedom - beginning a tradition of celebrations that we continue across the nation to this day.
Today, we gather here in Randallstown to remember that day in Galveston and to mark the day that our nation finally became whole, when we truly began our long march together to live up to the idea of America that was put forward in our founding documents. We are here to celebrate freedom and our nation as it was meant to be from the very beginning. This is a great American holiday and I am proud to be here to celebrate it with all of you.
