OLLI-Juneteenth: The Destruction of Slavery in the Civil War

OLLI/FIU Lecture Series: Juneteenth: The Destruction of Slavery in the Civil War by Richard Bell. Join AARP South Florida and attendees from across the U.S. for a free virtual event on June 3rd, at 12:30 p.m. ET | 11:30 a.m. CT | 10:30 a.m. MT | 9:30 a.m. PT- AARP membership not required.

Over the course of four years, enslaved people worked to turn the Civil War into a freedom war. Slowly but surely, they pushed President Abraham Lincoln and his commanders in the field toward embracing emancipation as a war aim and to compel them to take the giant steps forward needed to abolish slavery once and for all.

On June 19, 1865, the federal government finally met that objective, declaring slavery dead across the country. This momentous event marked a new birth of freedom—an occasion we now commemorate as Juneteenth.