Bloque A - Text 2 · Inglés PAU Andalucía Extraordinaria Reserva 2024

TEXT 2: JUNETEENTH

1 On June 17th, 2021, President Biden signed into law the bill that established as a national public holiday June 19th, Juneteenth

2 National Independence Day. Despite Juneteenth's storied history, the holiday had largely gone unnoticed by non-Black Americans

3 for long. It was the Black Lives Matter movement that pushed Juneteenth into the national spotlight, following decades of activists'

4 calls for recognition of the landmark occasion.

5 5 In 1863, during the American Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation

6 Proclamation, which declared free more than three million slaves living in the Confederate States. More than two years would

7 pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston,

8 Texas, on June 19th, 1865 that the town's residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The former slaves immediately

9 began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song and dance.

10 10 The following year, on June 19th, the first official Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas. They included prayer meetings

11 and the singing of spirituals, and celebrants wore new clothes as a way of representing their newfound freedom.

12 Since African Americans were prohibited from using public facilities, they often held their annual celebration of freedom at their

13 churches or out in rural areas around rivers and streams, which could provide for additional activities such as fishing, horseback riding

14 and barbecues. There were also visits to the cemeteries to reunite the freed and living with their dead and enslaved ancestors.

15 15 Having been commemorated for more than 160 years, Juneteenth has now become a date representing African Americans'

16 struggle for freedom and equality, as well as an occasion for family and community celebration.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

9.

According to the text, Juneteenth originally celebrated...

10.

According to the text, Juneteenth celebrations were...

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT, OR USE YOUR OWN WORDS. (0.5 points each)

11.

Non-Black Americans have traditionally taken part in Juneteenth events.

TRUE

FALSE

12.

The Black Lives Matter movement has played a key role in making Juneteenth a national holiday.

TRUE

FALSE

13.

Enslaved people in Galveston were initially reluctant to believe they had been freed.

TRUE

FALSE

14.

Juneteenth celebration outfits were symbolic of Blacks' new condition.

TRUE

FALSE

15. FIND IN THE TEXT: (0.5 points)

15.1.

15.2.

16. FIND IN THE TEXT: (0.5 points)

16.1.

16.2.