When did you first learn about Juneteenth?

Four years ago, I was visiting Texas for work and ended up staying Friday night in Bastrop. This was my first experience with Juneteeth. I was out looking for somewhere to eat when I ran into a celebration. I had no idea what was going on. Instead of walking up and asking someone, I got a little nervous and walked the other direction to find a restaurant. I ended up sitting next to an African American couple at the bar. They explained to me that Juneteeth was their Indepedence Day (On June 19, 1865, 155 years ago Friday, the last group of slaves in the United States were freed. Their freedom was bittersweet -- it came two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863) They were awesome and let me ask questions. Afterwards, they invited me down to the celebration with them.

I will never forget one question she asked me to think about while looking at the crowd: "If there is a holiday that is THIS important to so many people, but Ohioans don't even know about, do you think it's possible that there are other things about the Black community you don't know about, too?"

I believe this event was the first time in my life (22) where I was the only white person at an event or large crowd.