According to CNN and the Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump has tried to take credit for making Juneteenth — a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States — “very famous,” after rescheduling his first rally since the start of the pandemic to avoid further criticism for seeming to co-opt the holiday, already observed in 48 states.
Juneteenth – which is June 19th – is tomorrow and will be celebrated by Americans of all races.
Trump told The Wall Street Journal that “nobody had ever heard of” the holiday before he brought it up.
It happens that Juneteenth is the oldest regular US celebration of the end of slavery. It commemorates June 19th, 1865 — the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told slaves of their emancipation. The holiday was first observed in Texas and called Jubilee Day. It later became known as Juneteenth and spread across the country.
Trump’s rally was scheduled to take place on the holiday in Tulsa, Oklahoma: the site of a race riot 99 years ago, during which part of a black neighborhood was burned down.
More information about Juneteenth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth
