Thursday, June 19

In honor of Juneteenth, all church facilities will be closed.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in January 1863. However, it wasn’t until two years later, on June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended, that the enslaved were now free. After this, more than 250,000 slaves across Texas learned that they were free.

The celebration of June 19 was coined “Juneteenth” and grew with more participation from descendants of slaves as they treated the day as their Independence Day. As early as 1866, freed slaves in Texas held celebrations on this date to commemorate and celebrate the end of slavery.