SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — As Juneteenth celebrations take place across Oregon on Friday, Black community leaders say the holiday remains an important opportunity to preserve history and educate the public amid a national debate over diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed enslaved people they were free, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
The day is widely recognized as marking the effective end of slavery in the United States and became a federal holiday in 2021…