‘Celebrate those struggles’: Grand Strand families celebrate Juneteenth and the day’s importance

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF/AP) – Families across the Grand Strand celebrated Juneteenth and the importance of the day.

Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free.

News that the war had ended, and they were free finally reached Galveston, Texas when Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in the Gulf Coast city on June 19, 1865, more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia.

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But it wasn’t until 2021 when President Joe Biden signed a bill that set aside June 19 as a federal holiday.

Now it’s a day where Black brothers and sisters can not only reflect on the hardships of their ancestors but teach future generations of the day’s importance.

“It celebrates those struggles. It celebrates everything that our ancestors went through to allow us the freedoms, the joy and the fellowship that we have today. We got that on the backs of our ancestors so that’s why I celebrate this,” resident Theresa Collins said.

For generations, many Black Americans have recognized the day in the form of parades, street festivals and cookouts.

In Myrtle Beach, people gathered at 67th Avenue North to celebrate the holiday on the beach.

The city of Myrtle Beach also held a Unity March over the weekend to celebrate Juneteenth.

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