The Tampa Bay Rays, like much of the sports world, commemorated Juneteenth today by releasing the following statement:
Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day dates back to June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War ended, and that the enslaved were now free. This announcement was more than two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in America.
This date celebrates a belated liberation for Black people in the United States.