As a Global Payments company, AdvancedMD is excited to celebrate and commemorate Juneteenth, a federal holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War on June 19. We will observe the holiday on Monday, June 20 and our offices will be closed.
A Brief History of Juneteenth
Juneteenth is also known as “Juneteenth Independence Day,” “Freedom Day,” or “Emancipation Day.” During the U.S. Civil War, Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declaring freedom for three million slaves in the Confederate states. However, more than two years passed before the news reached African Americans living in Texas.
On June 19, 1865, about two months after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Va., Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform African Americans slaves of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. The former slaves immediately celebrated with prayer, feasting, song, and dance.
