In celebration of Juneteenth, this incredible performance of “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” from Nina Simone… If you can’t view it full screen here, you can watch it on YouTube

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEP0-8VAow]

When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862, he intended to free the 3.5 million enslaved men and women in the Confederate States, effective January 1, 1863. But Texas, the most remote of the Confederate states, refused to comply, and there were not enough Union troops on hand to enforce the edict. Texas slaves remained in bondage until Union army general Gordon Grancer ordered them freed on June 19, 1865, marking the end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth marks this liberation.

Although 47 states now recognize the holiday (North and South Dakota and Hawaii are the exceptions), only Texas, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania deem it an official paid holiday for state employees.