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Juneteenth (a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth”) is the day that federal troops came to Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 and made sure that enslaved people in the area were set free. This was two-and-one-half years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.Courtesy graphic

Wichita State hosting JuneteenthICT Parade

June 18, 2021
By Abigail Klein, Strategic Communications PR Advisor

 

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion aims to cultivate and sustain an inclusive campus. We strive for academic excellence by creating an environment that educates, empowers and mobilizes our students, campus and community. In our community, our members view themselves as ambassadors for fundamental freedoms and respect the differences in others.

 

Media and the community are invited to attend the JunteenthICT Parade, sponsored by Wichita State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

The parade celebrates the 156th anniversary of Juneteenth during the JuneteenthICT Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19. The parade route will begin at 17th Street and Hillside, going west, and eventually ending at McAdam’s Park, where the all-day Juneteenth ICT celebration will take place.

June 19 is the annual celebration of the end of slavery. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed Jan. 1, 1863, and the Civil War ended April 9, 1865, more than 250,000 remained enslaved in Texas when Union troops arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, to order their emancipation. Texas was the first state to adopt the formal holiday in 1980. This week, President Joe Biden signed legislation into law establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day.

For more information on the parade, visit JuneteenthICT website. For more information on the history of Juneteenth, visit the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture website.

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