Cover image: SISTERS announcement for 1995 Juneteenth event

Today is Juneteenth, a day that honors the moment on June 19, 1865, when Union Army Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that enslaved people in Texas were free—enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln nearly two years earlier.

The order stated: 

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

Texas Map
GDJ (Source: Pixabay)

Celebrations of Emancipation Day (aka Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day) have been taking place in Texas since 1866, and the tradition spread across the U.S. with the migration of freed Texans to other parts of the country.  Juneteenth was made an official state holiday in 1980.

As a native Texan, I applauded President Joe Biden's signature on the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in 2021, which officially made June 19 a national holiday.

To the best of my knowledge, the first Juneteenth celebration in Paris took place in 1994, when the French nonprofit association called SISTERS (founded in 1993) organized a dinner at Haynes' restaurant.

As treasurer of the first board of directors for the organization, I suggested that we celebrate Juneteenth and was surprised when no one had heard of it.  

When I explained the significance of the day, everyone immediately agreed that organizing an event of some kind was in order.

1994 SISTERS Juneteenth dinner invitation

SISTERS organized multiple Juneteenth events in subsequent years and began to mention their celebrations under "SISTERS Annual Events" in their promotion materials for membership drives.

1995 SISTERS Juneteenth invitation - dinner and entertainment

SISTERS membership flier

Democrats Abroad now organizes its own Juneteenth events.

Democrats Abroad 2023 Juneteenth announcement

Democrats Abroad 2024 Juneteenth announcement

This year's Democrats Abroad event is being cosponsored by Sistahs Circle Paris. 

Democrats Abroad 2025 Juneteenth announcement

Tonight I will speak about Juneteenth at an invitation-only prospective membership social hosted by the American Club of Paris.

For more information about Juneteenth, click HERE.