Proud Member of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation that brought you Juneteenth as a national holiday!
Milestone: Georgia can be proud to know that Juneteenth Atlanta Parade & Music Festival is a 10-year member of the National Juneteenth Observation Foundation(NJOF). NJ was founded by the late and great Rev. Ronald V. Meyers Senior M.D. The NJOF was the driving force behind Juneteenth becoming a national holiday. Now under the leadership of President Steve Williams and our Queen Elder member, 94 years young, Opal Lee, who stood at the table during the signing of Senate Bill S. 475 by President Biden, on June 17, 2021, making Juneteenth the nation's 12th federal holiday. Upon the bill's completion, Opal Lee received the legislative pen from President Biden. Juneteenth Atlanta hosted Opal Lee as she made her walk across the country to help make Juneteenth a national holiday and helped her celebrate her 90th birthday celebration here in Atlanta in 2016. NJOF members collectively worked together over the years towards making Juneteenth a national holiday and now we have it.
Rev. Ronald V. Meyers Senior M.D. Appointed Bob Johnson, founder of Juneteenth Atlanta Parade & Music Festival, the NJOF director over the state of Georgia in 2012. Juneteenth Atlanta is now noted as being one of the largest Juneteenth festivals in the country. Juneteenth Atlanta is held in Atlanta, Ga, and features a unique weekend music festival and a Juneteenth Holiday Black History Parade.
WHAT EXACTLY IS JUNETEENTH? June 19th is the newest National Holiday and the official annual day of observance to celebrate the day of emancipation and independence of ALL Americans. Historically, it is the date Union soldiers, including the United States Colored Troop (USCT) enforced the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all remaining enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865. Texas was one of the last states in rebellion, following the end of the Civil War, to allow enslavement. Although the rumors of freedom were widespread prior to this, actual emancipation was not announced in the last few states practicing enslavement until General Gordon Granger and the United States Colored Troops came to Galveston, Texas and issued General Order #3, on the “19th of June,” almost two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation!
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