Through our lens: Juneteenth

Twenty-five years before Juneteenth became a federal holiday, the Elegba Folklore Society held its inaugural Juneteenth observance at what was then called the Virginia Historical Society. At the time, the Juneteenth celebration was largely regional. But by the late 1990s, you could sense that its larger moment was arriving. Juneteenth commemorates the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865 — more than two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox — with a message of freedom for the enslaved. In Richmond, freedom arrived...