06/19/2026
Today we honor the day when the last enslaved people in the United States, a quarter million strong, learned they were free.
The confederate military had been disbanded 24 days earlier, the Confederacy had fallen 71 days prior, and President Lincoln had declared their freedom 900 days before... but June 19th, 1865 is when it finally became real. 161 years later we still feel the long shadow of slavery.
This day does not only mark the end of slavery but the start of rebuilding a country where that freedom is real and felt by everyone. We honor that history today, and the generations who have fought, and continue to fight, for freedom that's more than a promise on paper.