Community Commemorates Juneteenth

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Juneteenth is the name given to the emancipation of the last slaves in Texas June 19, 1865.

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed Jan. 1, 1863.

White slave owners in Texas kept the information a secret from the slaves for more than two years until Major Gen. Gordon Granger announced the end of the Civil War in Galveston, Texas.

Dr. John Hardin, board chairman at the local African American history museum said that these slaves were the last to find out about the emancipation.

The war had been over for two months but the news traveled slowly.

There are often ‘Juneteenth’ festivals and events planned around the country in honor of the day.

Here locally, the community has been shaped by African Americans, and we can see that in the memory of Jonesville, the Black History Museum, and much more.

“It shows us where our history is at. A lot of these communities that have come to form like Jonesville was a smaller part of what is now Bowling Green, wouldn’t have happened without something like the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth,” said Ryan Dearbone, President of the Bowling Green/Warren County NAACP.