The spirit of Juneteenth: The freedom to self-determine

To be able to self-determine is to be able to control one’s own life and tell one’s own story—an ability that people who were enslaved in the U.S. did not legally have before the Emancipation Proclamation (1862) or the 13th and 14th amendments. The ability to purchase land, not just work it, represented Black Americans’ hard-won and newfound ability to self-determine.

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