Juneteenth 2021: How Towson Marks The End Of Slavery

TOWSON, MD — With the stroke of his pen Thursday, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth an official annual holiday.

County Executive Johnny Olszewski on Friday closed Baltimore County government offices, courts and CountyRide van service in recognition of Juneteenth National Independence Day.

In Towson on Saturday, the Northeast Towson Improvement Association is hosting a Juneteenth Music Festival. Historic East Towson is billed as one of the oldest African American communities in the region, founded by slaves from the Hampton Mansion.

The Juneteenth music festival will be from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, at the Elks Lodge, 411 East Pennsylvania Ave., Towson, MD 21286. Tickets for the festival are available at eventbrite.

Towson University canceled classes Friday and made it an administrative leave day for faculty and staff so people could reflect on Juneteenth.

"On this Juneteenth, it is imperative that we not only pause to acknowledge the inequities of our past, but to come together as a community to support one another," Towson University President Kim Schatzel said in a statement. "Each of us is empowered to stand up to injustice, oppression andracism wherever it occurs."

In Randallstown on Saturday, Olszewski will join U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones, Attorney General Brian Frosh, and other community leaders for the Randallstown NAACP's Juneteenth Virtual Celebration.

The celebration will be at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, on Zoom.

• Here is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84019651380
• The meeting ID is 840 1965 1380, and the passcode is 126582.

Before Biden made it an official holiday — something the Senate agreed to unanimously in a consent agreement and the House voted overwhelmingly for in a roll call vote — Juneteenth commemorations were held on June 19 to mark the end of slavery in the United States and the date many slaves in Texas finally found out they were free.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. It is “a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings,” according to Juneteenth.com In recent years, Juneteenth has commemorated African-American freedom, with an emphasis on education and achievement.

Juneteenth is held on June 19 because that was the date in 1865 when Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that the Civil War had ended and all slaves were free. Many of the slaves in Texas had not known of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had actually given them freedom more than two years earlier.

Granger read “General Order No. 3,” which 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,” according to the city of Galveston, which has an historical marker for its connection to the holiday.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard University professor and African American historian, wrote in The Root magazine that Juneteenth is “an occasion for gathering lost family members, measuring progress against freedom and inculcating rising generations with the values of self-importance and racial uplift.”

In 1980, Texas became the first state to designate Juneteenth as a holiday. In the time since, 45 other states have decided to officially recognize the day, according to The New York Times.

A number of cities and towns held events and parades for the 150th anniversary in 2015.

More and more places are recognizing Juneteenth as an official holiday.

Maryland will recognize Juneteenth as a legal holiday this year, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday.

"This is an important step forward for our country," Hogan said in a statement. "Maryland is proud to support this legislation, and observe this new national holiday."

Annapolis will host Maryland’s first Juneteenth festival with a parade through the state capital.

Some major American brands — Twitter, Nike and the National Football League, included — have made Juneteenth a paid company holiday.

Related:

• Olszewski Announces Baltimore County Office Closures For Juneteenth
• Juneteeth Recognized As MD Holiday, State Marks End Of Slavery
• What Is Juneteenth? 5 Things To Know About The Holiday That Marks The End Of Slavery
• The Historic East Towson Juneteenth Music Festival
• Towson University: Towson University Pauses To Reflect On Juneteenth

— By Tim Moran and Elizabeth Janney