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Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, will be commemorated on Wednesday.
According to tradition, Juneteenth is observed on June 19 because it was on that date in 1865 that Union soldiers arriving in Galveston, Texas, at the end of the Civil War told African-American slaves there that they were free. No one knows with certainty how long the holiday has been celebrated. But the date now is recognized as a federal holiday.
Area residents will have the chance to recognize the holiday last weekend, during the annual festival at Second Baptist Church.
Celebrations and remembrances serve as reminders that ours is a nation based on the fundamental truth that all people are free. We view it as a God-given right.
But the United States, despite what was written in the Declaration of Independence, was not founded on the basis of liberty for all. Millions of African-Americans remained in slavery after we became a country.
That was a terrible, ugly stain on this nation -- but, as historians understand, compromising with slave states when the Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788 probably was the only way the young republic could survive.
It was not until the Civil War that Americans confronted the evil of slavery head-on. And, with President Abraham Lincoln leading the way through the Emancipation Proclamation, Americans finally abolished slavery through the 13th Amendment, in 1865.
For too long after that, bigotry remained common in our country. It still rears its ugly head too frequently, and we must continue to work toward the day when that will end forever.
But Juneteenth celebrates the time when we as a nation -- we as Americans -- declared institutional discrimination had no place in our land. We as a people agreed that, at long last, it was time to live up to the words of the Declaration of Independence.
That is something worth recognizing.
Juneteenth should be celebrated as a way to mark an important day in our nation's history and as a reminder there remains a lot of work that needs to be done.