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June·teenth
 Juneteenth
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- pronunciation:
- jun
tinth
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition: |
the anniversary and celebration of the day, June 19, 1865, on which the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states was announced in Texas by Union Army forces. Before this date, slaves in Texas, part of the Confederacy, had no way of knowing that they had been freed on January 1, 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation; thus, June 19th, now a Federal holiday, is celebrated each year in commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. Technically, all slaves became free in the United States upon the adoption of the 13th Amendment at the end of 1865. The amendment abolished slavery everywhere, including in those slave-owning states that had not joined the Confederacy.
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