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Longmont honors Juneteenth celebration

Mayor lobbies for national holiday
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Mayor Brian Bagley celebrates Juneteenth with Dr. DeAndre Taylor, Madelyn Strong Woodley and Boulder Mayor Pro Tem Junie Joseph

Longmont officials, Monday, hoisted the flag marking the Juneteenth holiday, celebrating the emancipation of slaves. Juneteenth is celebrated annually on June 19 throughout the United States, to commemorate the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed, according to the History Channel.

The troops’ arrival came a full two and half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday, the History Channel states.

Longmont Mayor Brian Bagley and council members Joan Peck, Polly Christensen and Marcia Martin helped mark the flag raising in front of the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark Street. Councilmember Susie Hidalgo-Faring was virtually present, live-streaming the celebration to her summer school students. 

Bagley also read a proclamation that supports Juneteenth in Longmont and asked that it be declared a federal holiday.

Also speaking at the ceremony was Dr. DeAndre Taylor, University of Colorado-Boulder’s associate director for educational initiatives. Another speaker was Michele Simpson, CU-Boulder’s senior instructor of Colorado’s philosophy, arts and culture Residential Academic Program.

Madelyn Strong Woodley, Executive Committee for African American Cultural Events, or ECAACE, president and founder, and Showing up for Racial Justice, or SURJ, Executive Director Liz Morasco teamed up with the goal to have every city in Boulder County fly the Juneteenth flag.

All speakers and advocates shared their hopes of the celebration continuing each year in Longmont and across the nation.