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What Juneteenth Means to Me
As I watched President Biden sign the bill to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday, my mind immediately was drawn to stories about Mary Jane Harris Palmore, my Granny’s grandmother. Born into slavery on the Palmore plantation in Powhatan, Virginia and daughter of Amanda Liggon and Richard Harris. At some point Mary Jane’s mother, Amanda, was sold to a plantation in another state. I can’t fathom the heartache, depression and anxiety that this must have caused Mary Jane, as she later would name one of her own daughters (my great-grandfather’s sister) Amanda. I, too, carry this name.