JUNETEENTH
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:06 pm
• Juneteenth •
Pronunciation: jun-teenth • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, proper
Meaning: Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. This African-American celebration remembers the day, June 19, 1865, when news of the Emancipation Proclamationreached slaves in Galveston, Texas—two and a half years after it was issued.
Notes: Early celebrations evolved into political rallies and later into formal celebrations planned far in advance by Juneteenth committees. June 19, 1865 was a Monday but now Juneteenth is celebrated on the third Saturday of June. In early years these celebrations were commonly relegated by law to the outskirts of towns. However, many Juneteenth organizations eventually purchased tracts of land inside towns for the express purpose of holding the celebration. Many of them were named 'Emancipation Park' and some remain today.
In Play: This year celebrations will be held in more cities across the US than ever before, marking the 140th anniversary of this special day. For details of celebrations in your area, visit the Juneteenth website at www.juneteenth.com.
Word History: Today's Good Word is a blend of June and nineteenth that sounds rather odd, since -teen-th are suffixes that usually attach to numbers (teen is a variant of ten). June was taken from the calendar of the Romans, who named the month after their goddess, Juno, the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of the moon, marriage, and childbirth. Juno's name comes from the same root as the Latinate words, junior, juvenile, and our own Germanic versions, English young and German Jugend "youth". (Let us all join with Larry Brady, who suggested today's word, in celebrating this unique US holiday and the freedom from repression it symbolizes.)
Pronunciation: jun-teenth • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, proper
Meaning: Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. This African-American celebration remembers the day, June 19, 1865, when news of the Emancipation Proclamationreached slaves in Galveston, Texas—two and a half years after it was issued.
Notes: Early celebrations evolved into political rallies and later into formal celebrations planned far in advance by Juneteenth committees. June 19, 1865 was a Monday but now Juneteenth is celebrated on the third Saturday of June. In early years these celebrations were commonly relegated by law to the outskirts of towns. However, many Juneteenth organizations eventually purchased tracts of land inside towns for the express purpose of holding the celebration. Many of them were named 'Emancipation Park' and some remain today.
In Play: This year celebrations will be held in more cities across the US than ever before, marking the 140th anniversary of this special day. For details of celebrations in your area, visit the Juneteenth website at www.juneteenth.com.
Word History: Today's Good Word is a blend of June and nineteenth that sounds rather odd, since -teen-th are suffixes that usually attach to numbers (teen is a variant of ten). June was taken from the calendar of the Romans, who named the month after their goddess, Juno, the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of the moon, marriage, and childbirth. Juno's name comes from the same root as the Latinate words, junior, juvenile, and our own Germanic versions, English young and German Jugend "youth". (Let us all join with Larry Brady, who suggested today's word, in celebrating this unique US holiday and the freedom from repression it symbolizes.)