BATON ROUGE — Southern University held its Juneteenth celebration for the Baton Rouge community. The day-long event was filled with performances and activities.

The national holiday was recognized when Union soldiers reached Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved people they were finally free.

Southern University history professor Latrenda Williams-Clark said it is a day that not only African Americans celebrate but all Americans should celebrate.

"If you are a proud American, you should be proud that slavery ended and African Americans were freed," Williams-Clark said. 

Although the last enslaved people were finally free, that freedom was delayed by two years when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Williams-Clark said the signed document only freed those in Confederate territories but freedom was still hard to reach.

"When we talk about the bondage of slavery, it wasn't that it wasn't declared, it wasn't enforced, it wasn't enforced when we look at the Emancipation Proclamation," Williams-Clark said.

Williams-Clark said freedom was delayed here in Louisiana. She said the Civil War and freeing of slaves hurt Louisiana's economy.

“When you think about the labor, the money that it brought in for the sales of enslaved people—men women, and children," Williams-Clark said. "The South was largely agricultural. We needed that labor."

She said the push to end slavery wasn't just about morality but it was also politically driven.

“The North needed African Americans. They wanted to stay in control in Congress and in the House of Representatives. Ending slavery means black votes,” she said.

The Juneteenth celebration at Southern was filled with cultural pride, as evidenced by the support for black-owned businesses and line dancing. Williams-Clark said the freedom that was once delayed is being recognized as a day of the resilience of the ancestors of African Americans.

"It's a day to continue sharing these stories and sharing our history so our history won't be erased or forgotten," she said.