This is the second year that Juneteenth is celebrated as a federal holiday. However, the Black community in Colorado has celebrated Juneteenth for a lot longer.
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863. However, it was not immediately applied across the country. It was more than two years later, on June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Texas to declare the emancipation of enslaved people. For descendants of formerly enslaved persons, Juneteenth is our Independence Day.
Juneteenth is our clarion call to people across our state. We believe that to achieve true social change, our goals and priorities must be approached through this lens — how does this advocacy, legislation or litigation move us forward to achieve long-term change, that dismantles racial and identity injustices? It is with this intentionality that the ACLU will achieve its North Star — "to make Colorado the most equitable state in our country."
Sign up to march alongside other activists and members of ACLU of Colorado on Saturday, June 17
