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Vallejo Juneteenth Celebration

Saturday, June 17, 2017
11:00 am CDT4:00 pm CDT
City Park @ 425 Alabama Street, Vallejo

Join The Arc-Solano at City Park this year for Vallejo's 29th Annual Juneteenth Celebration! The Solano County African Family Celebration Committee is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization created in 1989 to promote the national observance of Juneteenth marking African American freedom from slavery in the United States, to celebrate positive contributions of African Americans nationally and locally, and to promote a cultural connection of the observance as an opportunity to build strong communities through access to health services and education resources.

This free event attracts over 2,000 visitors and provides an opportunity for the entire community to participate in the national observance of this historic event in our country. The AAFRC partners with local non-profit and for-profit health care organizations that provide free services to community members including immunizations, screenings, dental check-ups, etc. The event also emphasizes education as the key to a successful future and includes participation by local educational institutions and after-school programs that seek to increase the number of African American students enrolling in college.

What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth or June 19, 1865, is considered the date when the last slaves in America were freed. Although the rumors of freedom were widespread prior to this, actual emancipation did not come until General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and issued General Order No. 3, on June 19, almost two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, notifying the states in rebellion against the Union that if they did not cease their rebellion and return to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves forever free. Needless to say, the proclamation was ignored by those states that seceded from the Union. Furthermore, the proclamation did not apply to those slave-holding states that did not rebel against the Union. As a result, about 8,000,000 slaves were unaffected by the provisions of the proclamation. It would take a civil war to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to formally outlaw slavery in the United States.

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