250 Years Towards Racial Justice

Progress, Promise, and Challenges
Presented by Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

As the U.S. commemorates Juneteenth, marking the end of slavery in the United States, the nation also prepares to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. While the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” enslavement did not end in this country until 1865, 89 years after the signing of this founding document of the U.S.