On June 19, 1865 — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas declaring that all people who were enslaved were to be freed.
Upon hearing of their freedom, the newly freed Americans broke out in celebration of prayer, food, song, and dance. Slavery had been over, but many Black Americans were still not free until that day in June.
This is the spirit of Juneteenth: We don’t celebrate the day when change is announced, we celebrate the day when justice is made real for every single last one of us.
Growing up as the son of educators in Mobile, Alabama, serving in the United States Army, and now working as a congressman representing Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, I have seen firsthand the progress we’ve made in this country over the decades. But even today, there are still so many left behind.
So on Junenteenth, we remember our history, we celebrate how far we’ve come, and we recommit to the words of the grandmother of Juneteenth, Miss Opal Lee: “None of us are free until we're all free.”
Sanford Bishop is fighting for our democracy, for unity, and for a renewed faith in the promise of America.
Congressman Sanford Bishop is serving his sixteenth term in the United States House of Representatives, representing the constituents of the Second Congressional District of Georgia. A consensus builder that works with members on both sides of the aisle, heis uniquely dedicated to his constituents and has demonstrated himself as a leader inside of Congress.
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Sanford Bishop for Congress P.O. Box 909 Columbus, GA 31902 United States
