MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The National Civil Rights Museum took part in a virtual Juneteenth commemoration Friday, with performances, discussions and artistic expressions.
Museum officials say this day has always been an important one, a day that is all about freedom.
“We didn’t even know we were free until two-and-a-half years later. Let that sit for a second,” said Faith Morris with the National Civil Rights Museum.
June 19, 1865, slaves in Texas finally got word that they were free. But the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two-and-a-half years earlier.
“When Juneteenth comes up and you understand the story of how we even found out that as slaves we were free, it bears some attention. It bears some different attention,” Morris said.
On the heels of Black Lives Matter protests and Black lives lost at the hands of police, Juneteenth is getting more attention.
Shelby County government will now recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday, and there is a push to make it a Tennessee state holiday.
“We have come to a watershed moment in this country,” said commissioner Van Turner. “Either we are gonna uphold justice and democracy for all, or we are going to become even worse than the countries that we go and fight against.”
Turner is with the NAACP. The civil rights organization held a Juneteenth commemoration on zoom, saying African Americans still face shackles of poverty, poor education and brutality at the hands of law enforcement.
“This is an opportunity for America to get it right,” Turner said. “This is an opportunity for us as a nation to realize a great wrong has been done, a great injustice has occurred and it has never been rectified.”
He says Juneteenth is a start that hopefully will lead to real change.
“To have a Juneteenth, and to have so many eyes on it right now, that’s awesome,” Turner said.
