Even though June 19 has been a federal holiday since 2021, many people are unsure of what that date commemorates.

Folks who attended the Juneteenth program at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in Allentown last week not only had their questions answered, but they left the event with a greater understanding of the holiday’s roots and its significance.

Dr. James Higgins, historian and executive director of the museum, which is a repository of American historical artifacts and documents, presented an extensive lecture and slide show on the holiday, from its origins to its relevance today.

According to history, on June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Texas were finally told they were free, even though President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years earlier and slavery had come to an end in some southern states.

Slavery was abolished in various parts of the south at different times.

Spontaneous celebrations sprung up when the proclamation was read. These frequently were church-centered events, which included prayers, speeches, food, games and fishing derbies.

Often, Blacks were prohibited from using public facilities, so they held their celebrations at churches or near water. In many Black areas of the south, ministers were prominent community leaders, and they were instrumental in organizing the celebrations of newly-freed slaves.

Transplants from the south who moved north for jobs brought these celebrations to the rest of the country.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the celebrations grew in popularity during the Civil Rights movement, and by 1979, every state had formally recognized the holiday in some way, although it was celebrated on various dates.

Its purpose was not only to celebrate the demise of slavery, but also to educate the public about the history and culture of the African-American community.

A Black woman named Opal Lee, who is now 98 years old, was a tireless activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday. She is a retired school teacher from Texas, who also was a counselor and a children’s book author.

She had an ancestor who was born into slavery. As a 12-year-old child, she experienced the trauma and horror of having her family’s home vandalized and burned down by white rioters in Fort Worth, Texas.

After retiring from teaching in 1976, Lee became involved in a number of community causes and charities in the Fort Worth area. For decades she campaigned to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

Each year she led 2.5-mile walks to promote the holiday. She chose that distance to represent the 2.5 years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach enslaved people in Texas, a remote state at the time.

Lee participated in marches in multiple states and promoted a petition for a Juneteenth federal holiday; the petition received 1.6 million signatures.

In June of 2021 her efforts succeeded. Congress passed a bill making Juneteenth our newest federal holiday, and in 2024 Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden.

Each year Juneteenth focuses attention on our nation’s history of slavery and freedom and the holiday serves as a reminder of the ongoing pursuit for equality.