“Freedom is the state or fact of being free from servitude, constraint, inhibition, etc.; liberty.”

—Oxford English Dictionary

Hail and well met, Pathfinders!
Paizo’s offices are closed today in honor of Juneteenth National Independence Day (Juneteenth). This holiday celebrates the true end of chattel slavery in the United States, when the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced in Texas at the end of the Civil War.

Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day, celebrates June 19, 1865, the day when the last slaves in the United States were finally informed they were free. The road from the first Juneteenth to today wasn’t smooth or easy. Last year, I wrote a blog about the history of Juneteenth, which you can find here, but this year, I wanted to talk a bit about what we can do on Juneteenth now, in the present day, and in the future.

Juneteenth is a holiday that doesn’t get the recognition or celebration it deserves. We celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation as when enslaved African Americans were freed in the United States. But the road there was a lot more complicated—emancipation took years to happen. Juneteenth is the day we celebrate the true end of slavery in the US, or at least the day the last of the slaves in the country were told that they were free, which came more than two and¬ a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. This Juneteenth, we wanted to take the time to introduce the holiday to those who may not be as familiar with it.