June 15, 2018
The Champaign Park District is holding a Juneteenth celebration on Saturday June 16 at Douglass Park in Champaign commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation when it was recognized in Texas 153 years ago.
The proclamation was an executive order issued in 1862 by then President Abraham Lincoln abolishing slavery. While it took effect in 1863, Texas didn’t enforce it until after the Civil War ended in 1865.