Happy Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom

Happy Juneteenth! June 19—known as Juneteenth—became one of 11 federal holidays in 2021 when the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into U.S. legislation. Juneteenth celebrates the 1865 emancipation of more than four million African Americans who were enslaved in the United States.

The international cross-cultural Unification movement has long been a stronghold in Africa. True Parents extensively traveled there during world tours, sharing messages of God’s hope for peace and unity among all people, and held Marriage Blessing ceremonies to establish God-centered couples and families. 

While embracing the African people, True Parents shared prayers of healing and repentance for the sorrowful history of its enslaved people. In True Mother’s memoir, Mother of Peace (2020), she poignantly recalled her experiences in Africa.

“The sense of profound grief I felt when I first stepped onto African soil in the 1970s remains in my heart,” she wrote. “I prayed: How can I help heal this continent’s wounds and bring harmony and oneness of heart?”

True Mother wept and prayed as she stood at Gorée Island’s Door of No Return in 2018 — the site where more than 20 million Africans were sold and shipped off to slavery in Europe and the Americas. 

“An intense pain arose in my heart,” she recalled. “I already was feeling that the bitter tears of grief shed by thousands of captives in transit through that island could fill the world’s oceans.”

True Mother liberated Gorée Island with her prayers, and donated a boat for urgent care transport to the mainland of Senegal. Gorée’s mayor also presented her with the Gorée Island Pilgrim Award.

As Juneteenth recognizes the plight of enslaved Africans and the weight of 400 years of suffering, it's also a time to reflect on those affected during a grim period in America’s history, so that we may bring peace to their ancestors and descendants. Let’s celebrate this Juneteenth and the freedom that finally came to our African brothers and sisters. 

You can learn more about Juneteenth here.