What to expect from Juneteenth celebrations in Johnson County

This year’s Juneteenth celebrations will be Johnson County’s greatest, according to celebration leaders, with festivities commencing Tuesday and culminating with celebrations in Coralville and Iowa Metropolis on Saturday.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Grander knowledgeable the Galveston, Texas, community of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Texas grew to become the past Accomplice state to notify inhabitants of the proclamation, which was made two many years earlier.

The day celebrates the finish of slavery, however the abolishment of slavery in The us occurred through the 13th Modification, ratified in December 1865.

Past 12 months, Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday break. Johnson County followed fit, creating it the 12th compensated getaway for county personnel.

“We unquestionably welcome any individual who wants to be a element of Juneteenth,” Royceann Porter, Johnson County Supervisors chair and regional Juneteenth organizer, explained to the Press-Citizen.