What We Commemorate on Juneteenth

Over the course of four years, enslaved people worked to turn the Civil War into a freedom war. Historian and University of Maryland professor Richard Bell describes how these efforts culminated on June 19, 1865, when the federal government finally declared slavery dead across the country, an event marking a new birth of freedom. This presentation was recorded on June 9, 2022. RELATED VIDEO: "Discovering Stories of Enslaved and Free Black Virginians," available at    • Discovering Stories of Enslaved and Free B...  . In it, Library of Virginia's Lydia Neuroth discusses Virginia Untold, a digital project that facilitates access to records documenting Black people pre-1867.