The first organized immigration of freed enslaved people to Africa
from the United States departed New York harbor on a journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The immigration was largely
the work of the American Colonization Society, a U.S. organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to return formerly enslaved
African people to Africa. However, the expedition was also partially funded by the U.S. Congress, which in 1819 had appropriated
$100,000 to be used in returning displaced Africans, illegally
brought to the United States after the abolishment of the slave
trade in 1808, to Africa.

The program was modeled after British’s efforts to resettle formerly enslaved people in Africa following England’s abolishment of the
slave trade in 1772.

Most Americans of African descent were not enthusiastic to
abandon their homes in the United States for the West African
coast.

President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation. Attempting to stitch together a nation mired in
a bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln made a last-ditch, but
carefully calculated, decision regarding the institution of
slavery in America.

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for
the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United
States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

On August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrived in the British colony of Virginia and were then bought by English colonists. The arrival of the enslaved Africans
in the New World marked the beginning of two and a half centuries
of slavery in North America.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Singer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress,
and television personality.Paula Julie Abdul is 58
years young today.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day,
is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of
slavery in the United States.