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.

The first organized immigration of freed slaves to Africa from the
United States departs New York harbor on a journey to Freetown,
Sierra Leone, in West Africa.

The first organized immigration of freed slaves 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 freed American slaves 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 freed slaves
in Africa following England’s abolishment of the slave trade in 1772.

On December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
officially ending the institution of slavery, was ratified. “Neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States,
or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” With these words, the single
greatest change wrought by the Civil War was officially noted in the
Constitution.

The ratification came eight months after the end of the war, but it
represented the culmination of the struggle against slavery.

TIM MAGUIRE

Rescuers prepare to lower a volunteer into a well parallel to the one
18-month-old Jessica McClure fell into.     
    
    
     
   


On this day in 1887, rescuers freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned well
that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. She was trapped for 58 hours.

Jessica McClure Morales became 33 years young in March.

Following McClure’s rescue on October 16, 1987, surgeons had to
amputate a toe due to gangrene from loss of circulation while she
was in the well. She also has a scar on her forehead where her
head rubbed against the well casing. She had 15 surgeries over
the years and has no first-hand memory of the event.