This Week In Black History June 19-25, 2024

Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King displays pictures of three civil rights workers at news conference on Dec. 4, 1964 in New York City. The workers were slain in Mississippi last summer. Dr. King commended the FBI for its arrests in Mississippi on Dec. 4 in connection with the slayings. King holds up photos of Andrew Goodman; James Chaney; and Michael Schwerner. The three civil rights workers disappeared in Mississippi near the town of Philadelphia, northeast of Jackson. (AP Photo/ John Lindsay) JUNE 19 1865—The Juneteenth Celebration begins. June 19, 1865 marks the day that many Blacks actually became free, especially those in Texas. Even though the Emancipation Procla­mation technically freed all slaves in 1863, slavery actually continued in Texas until the end of the Civ­il War. It was not until June 19, 1865 that many slaves learned they had been freed. They called the day of freedom “Juneteenth.” It is normally marked with picnics, barbecues and commemorations. In 1980, the day became an official holiday in Texas. 1918—Ebony and Jet magazines founder John H. Johnson is born in Arkansas City, Ark. He moved to Chi­cago to build his publishing empire. Johnson was the first African-Amer­ican to appear on...