• mkwt@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Before the 13th amendment, Lincoln formally ended slavery in the Union with the Emancipation Proclamation.

        But even before that, from 1861, the Union Army made it a policy to seize slaves that it captured as contraband (or prize) of war, and then effectively emancipate then.

        In general, even after the emancipation proclamation, slaves did not get actual freedom until the Union forces reached them.

        So it was a complicated and messy process.

        • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          I definitely think Juneteenth fits best as the final application of that proclamation. Although it’s slightly incongruous with July 4th celebrating the Declaration of Independence (rather than the end of the war), I think what distinguishes them is who declared the independence: the oppressed or the oppressor.

          Independence Day celebrates the oppressed declaring their freedom and then later fighting to win it. An EP day would celebrate the oppressor declaring the freedom of the oppressed, so it seems less like it’d be celebrating black freedom and more like “wow guys look at what a good thing we did”. I’d imagine the EP falling on January 1st does its viability as a holiday no favors either.

      • abbadon420@lemm.ee
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        11 days ago

        Ir’s weird how I’ve never heard about this, seeing how prevalentie American culture is in popular media.

        • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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          11 days ago

          likely because it’s somewhat an uncomfortable holiday, celebrating when slaves in Texas were told they had been free for 2 and a half years, but didn’t know it yet, and the slave owners were forced by the army to set them free.

          • Jordan117@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            It’s also relatively new as a federal holiday, only added in 2021. Before that it was largely officially observed only in Texas and a handful of cities.

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    11 days ago

    My stepmom LOVES to complain about Juneteenth being a school holiday. She’s otherwise a good person. I wish she didn’t watch Faux News so much.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    11 days ago

    The cafe where I planned to get a to-go breakfast when I needed to be at work on time for my weekly morning of responsibilities was closed for Juneteenth and I was late as a result.

    • StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      Idk about OP, but summer classes at my uni are super compressed. So like, everything in 8 weeks and most of the campus is restricted hours in the first place since (well most of the students aren’t doing summer courses)

  • jaybone@lemmy.zip
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    11 days ago

    Somehow I read schedule a day as in they scheduled an appointment. Which wouldn’t make sense if the library was closed. So it means they scheduled their own shit in their own calendar. Which is pretty impressive given all these other problems OP claims to have.