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From the Archive 

June 19th 2020, Juneteenth 

June 23, 2020 
by Magnum Photographers 
June 19th marks the annual observance of Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the US. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued by Lincoln on January 1st, 1863, and the Confederate government had collapsed in April, 1865, it was not until June 19th of that year that Federal forces had been able to announce the freedom of enslaved people in the remote hold-out state of Texas.

Long observed in African-American communities, observances vary from region to region. Some traditions include picnicking, barbecuing, singing folk songs, reading the Emancipation Proclamation, holding family reunions, staging music and street festivals, and drinking red colored beverages.

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