It's Friday, June 18th. I'm Achila Hughes.

And I'm Gideon Resset and this is what a day the podcast that is guaranteed water resistant up to depths of a hundred meters.

Yeah, that means the summer you can play at an any pool in almost every lake.

Why would disintegrate them if taken to the bottom of the ocean?

Yeah, that's just science.

We don't make the rules.

So this is a very special episode of what today tomorrow is the day commemorating an important announcement of freedom in this country that took more than two years to get delivered in every corner of America.

The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with the proclamation from the executive of the United States,

all slaves are free.

That is the message that Union soldiers delivered to the people of Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1865,

freeing about 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, one of the last to do so.

On today's show, we are going to tell you part of the history of how this day became a holiday, June 10th, why it took decades for it to spread across the country and the effort to make it a national holiday.

Yeah, so what you heard earlier was a reenactment, of course, but the real event that freed the enslaved in Texas happened more than two years after the emancipation proclamation and nearly a month after the end of the Civil War.

That delay was mainly because Texas didn't officially surrender until June 2nd, 1865, and on top of that, it took time for Union forces to slowly make their way through the South to enforce the law.

Galveston was the first stop in Texas by Union forces who spent six more weeks afterwards traveling the state to declare the enslaved free.

But over time, that day in Galveston, June 19th became known as June 10th or Freedom Day.

Today, it's a joyous and important celebration in black communities around the country.

At first, annual festivals were scattered and mostly throughout the South. When freed black people migrated out of Texas across the country, part of the population shift known as the Great Migration, they carried that tradition with them.

It wasn't until over 100 years later in 1980 that Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday. Now nearly every state has a celebration.

Juneteenth is a celebration. As you can see behind me, there's music, there is laughter, there is fun. But over the years, it has evolved to emphasize education and achievement.

And this year, perhaps more than ever, it's about change and empowerment.

That is just one example of last year's festival coverage, but as you heard, the holiday got a renewed focus on activism as well.

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