For Immediate Release
Contact: Deborah Evans, Communications Director
National Juneteenth Observance Foundation
888-509.NJOF (6563) X 701
AMERICA’S JUNETEENTH FOUNDATION
THANKS CONGRESS
(Washington D.C.) The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF) has invited legislative supporters of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Holiday to the National Press Club on February 1st. This program has been organized as an opportunity to thank them for their leadership and service towards passage of S475 which confirmed the long-awaited recognition of June 19, 1865, Juneteenth National Independence Day. This was the date when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were informed, that they and others in the Civil War rebellion states were freed 2 ½ years earlier.
Founder of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF), Rev. Ronald ‘Doc’ Myers’ Sr. M.D., (1956 – 2018) who introduced Juneteenth Legislation to 43 states and the District of Columbia vision became a reality June 17, 2021 when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day legislation. NJOF board member, Ms. Opal Lee was at the table. Juneteenth is the first paid federal holiday since Martin Luther King Day
Juneteenth occurs on Father’s Day this year. The national theme for 2022 will be recognition of the Founding Fathers of Freedom, the United States Colored Troops (USCT) who proudly marched into Galveston, Texas in uniform announcing freedom to those still held enslaved. Their message resulted in General Order #3 being written and posted on the door of Reedy Chapel there in Galveston,
The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation has issued a Call to Action in honor of the posting where Reedy Chapel minister read General Order #3 and confirmed to the formerly enslaved their freedom and the granting of “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.” NJOF is tasking churches, mosques, synagogues, and other faith communities, across the country, to post copies of General Order #3 on their doors, on June 19th, returning to their place in Juneteenth history as the foundation of the community.
NJOF president Steve Williams Said, “ Juneteenth is the actualization of freedom legislation, Juneteenth unites the people of America and acknowledges the right for all to, “…secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. . . “
