Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day and historically known as Jubilee Day,[2] Black Independence Day,[3] and Emancipation Day[4][5]) i
Formerly enslaved people in Galveston celebrated after the announcement.[34] On June 19, 1866, one year after the announcement, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of "Jubilee Day".[28] Early celebrations were used as political rallies to give voting instructions to newly freed slaves.[35] Early independence celebrations often occurred on January 1 or 4.[36]
Whereas, June 19, 1938, this year falls on Sunday; NOW, THEREFORE, I, JAMES V. ALLRED, Governor of the State of Texas, do set aside and proclaim the day of June 20, 1938, as the date for observance of EMANCIPATION DAY
in Texas, and do urge all members of the Negro race in Texas to observe the day in a manner appropriate to its importance to them
Seventy thousand people attended a "Juneteenth Jamboree" in 1951.[41] From 1940 through 1970, in the second wave of the Great Migration, more than five million black people left Texas, Louisiana and other parts of the South for the North and the West Coast. As historian Isabel Wilkerson writes, "The people from Texas took Juneteenth Day to Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and other places they went."[42] In 1945, Juneteenth was introduced in San Francisco by an immigrant from Texas, Wesley Johnson.[43]
Growing up, the celebration was referred to as "Juneteenth Jubilee" and celebrated with barbecues and picnics. Lots of Black churches had events (the AME churches had the best ones) and many Black families planned their family reunions around the date. Based on the t-shirt quilts I make with family tree shirts, they still do. The "Jubilee" name stuck around here even after it commonly became known as just "Juneteeth" in other places. Margaret Walker Alexander, author of the novel "Jubilee", was a much-loved local and her poetry and excerpts from her book were often read at the celebrations, so I suspect we held onto the Jubilee part of the name out of habit for longer than other places might have. We studied it as Juneteeth Jubilee in school, and it wasn't until the early 2000s that it was shortened to just Juneteenth. I'm not sure I ever remember hearing it referred to as Black Independence Day or Emancipation day except as a description of what it commemorates.In 1996, the first legislation to recognize "Juneteenth Independence Day" was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.J. Res. 195, sponsored by Barbara-Rose Collins (D-MI). In 1997,
They didn't ask me, but I would have voted for Juneteenth Jubilee for the name.
"Good job, though," he added. 
You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore before you decide to be happy.
