Juneteenth+ Sergi Prokofiev

 Today is Juneteenth, to commemorate this day we found a wonderful lesson

Plan called: History of Juneteenth and why it became a national holiday from https://www.pbs.org/   which shares, "On June 15, 2021, the Senate unanimously approved a bill approving June 19 as a federal holiday for “Juneteenth National Independence Day.” The House passed the bill one day later. Still, many Americans are still unaware of the history and significance of June 19.

On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring “that all persons held as slaves” in the Confederacy “shall be free.” While this may have freed some enslaved people on paper, the reality was much more complicated.

For instance, the Emancipation Proclamation only freed those slaves held under the Confederacy, not in border states loyal to the Union, including Kentucky, West Virginia and Delaware, where slavery was still legal after the Emancipation Proclamation. In fact, slavery was still legal in Kentucky until Dec. 1865, when the 13th Amendment was passed, though Kentucky voted against ratifying the amendment.

Confederate states and slaveholders also resisted emancipation, and many people remained enslaved in Confederate states after the proclamation, even as many enslaved people fought for their freedom or escaped behind Union lines. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union issued an order in Galveston, Texas, alerting all enslaved persons that they were legally free.

At this point in 1865, Texas was the westernmost state in America and one of the last Confederate states to be occupied by the Union. Many slaveholders had fled Union advances in other parts of the South to Texas, along with the people they had enslaved.

While it took time for the logistics of “freeing” enslaved people to come into effect, the importance of June 19, or “Juneteenth” lived on. Considering how complicated emancipation was, many dates were considered for holding celebrations of emancipation, but over 150 years later, June 19 remains.

What originally was a holiday mainly observed by Texans has grown to be recognized all over the country. Each year on “Juneteenth,” (or more formally Juneteenth National Freedom Day), communities all around the United States gather and celebrate and reflect on the history of slavery and struggle for civil rights and equality, including the work that still remains after conditional advances such as the Emancipation Proclamation. " Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/lesson-plans/2024/06/lesson-plan-history-of-juneteenth-and-why-its-set-to-become-a-national-holiday

In the Lesson we were encourgaed to answer these discussion questions feom :

What is “Juneteenth”? What does it celebrate?

Why did it take so long for enslaved peoples in Texas to finally be free?

 What obstacles existed?

What were some of the forms of discrimination against newly freed people mentioned in the video?

What is the Great Migration?

How did Juneteenth become a national, not just regional, celebration?

We also listens to three of Busy Kids Do Piano Podcasts learning about Sergi Prokofiev's and his Peter and the Wolf and Cinderella. Carly always does the most talented divine job.