The Juneteenth Story

With colorful illustrations and a timeline, this introductory history of Juneteenth for kids details the evolution of the holiday commemorating the date the enslaved people of Texas first learned of their freedom​. On June 19, 1865—more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation—the enslaved people of Texas first learned of their freedom. That day became a day of remembrance and celebration that changed and grew from year to year. Learn about the events that led to emancipation and why it took so long for the enslaved people in Texas to hear the news. The first Juneteenth began as “Jubilee Day,” where families celebrated and learned of their new rights as citizens. As Black Texans moved to other parts of the country, they brought their traditions along with them, and Juneteenth continued to grow and develop. Today, Juneteenth’s powerful spirit has endured through the centuries to become an official holiday in the United States in 2021. The Juneteenth Story provides an accessible introduction for kids to learn about this important American holiday.

Introduce little learners to the Juneteenth holiday with this 250-word board book about its origins and traditions. What are the origins of America's newest national holiday? With simple, age-appropriate language and colorful illustrations, this little board book introduces children to the events of June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform the people of Texas that all enslaved people were declared free and the Civil War had ended. The book also connects those events to today's celebrations. Thoroughly researched and historically accurate, The Story of Juneteenth distills a pivotal moment in U.S. history and creates an opportunity for further conversation between parent or caregiver and child.

Mazie is ready to celebrate liberty. She is ready to celebrate freedom. She is ready to celebrate a great day in American history. The day her ancestors were no longer slaves. Mazie remembers the struggles and the triumph, as she gets ready to celebrate Juneteenth.

The Juneteenth Story is an illustrated history of Juneteenth for kids, detailing its evolution from the first celebration in 1865 until it became a national holiday in 2021.

Juneteenth--the day Texan slaves found out they had been freed, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation--is June's favorite holiday. This year, though, her cousin Lillie will be there for the Juneteenth picnic. This could spoil everything, for Lillie has no interest in celebrating this Texas tradition. But great-great Aunt Marshall just may be able to convince Lillie otherwise. Full color.

This play within a play opens in the present time in a Minneapolis, Minnesota soul-food restaurant where a group of youth discuss the meaning of Juneteenth. They decide to attend a play on the subject and the story shifts into the American Civil War era, with Frederick Douglass as narrator. While on a cattle selling trip for his Master, Lewis, a young slave, learns that Abraham Lincoln has freed the slaves. To prevent this knowledge from spreading to other slaves, Lewis is murdered by slave patrollers. Over the next two years, Lewis's spirit works to protect his people until the 1865 Juneteenth announcement of freedom.

Juneteenth, which is celebrated each year on June 19th, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. This holiday began in 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. News spread much slower back then, and when slaves in Texas finally learned of their freedom, the holiday was born. In this book, readers are given an in-depth look at the history of Juneteenth, including the events leading up to its creation. Readers will love learning about how this important moment in U.S. history is celebrated each year.

Juneteenth has been touted as a national day celebrating the end of slavery. Observances from coast to coast have turned this event into part of the national conversation about race, slavery, and how Americans understand, acknowledge, and explain what has been called the national "original sin." But, why Juneteenth? Where did this celebration--which promises to become a national holiday--come from? What is the origin story? What are the facts, and legends, around this important day in the nation's history? This is the first scholarly book to delve into the history behind Juneteenth. Using decades of research in archives around the nation, this book helps separate myth from reality and tells the story behind the celebration in a way that provides new understanding and appreciation for the event. This book will captivate people interested in the history of emancipation and African American history but also those interested in Civil War and Texas history. As the United States continues to wrestle with race relations and the meaning of full equality, Juneteenth promises to become an important expression of that equality--an Independence Day celebration in its own right, a couple of weeks in advance of the traditional July 4th Holiday. This book will be a welcome addition to classrooms, book clubs and general readers interested in this once obscure regional event now destined for the national spotlight.

Kumbayah...The Juneteenth Story is a fictional, two-act play that addresses a factual and traumatic event - the rape of emancipation against African people who were held as captives in the United States. Lewis, is a brilliant young slave who is about to turn twenty-one years old. As a birthday present, Mastah Turner has promised Lewis his freedom. In 1863, while on a cattle-selling trip in Galveston, Texas for the ailing Mastah Turner, Lewis learns that President Abraham Lincoln has freed the slaves. As he returns to the plantation, exuberant over the news of freedom, Lewis is stopped by Pattyrollers (slave catchers). Since Lewis knows the guarded secret, fatality becomes inevitable. Over the next two and a half years, his mythical spirit (perhaps interpreted by devout storytellers as John De Conqueror) soars over the earth and through the skies as an eagle serving as a "protector" to his people. Finally, word of freedom gets delivered to the Texas captives via General Gordon Granger who issues the mandate on June 19, 1865... thus the term Juneteenth.