What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth is the day that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. June 19, 2025 will be the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth.

President Abraham Lincoln, signed the emancipation proclamation on January 1, 1863, an executive order that declared that all slaves shall be set free and forever free. Even after the general order, many enslavers withheld the information from enslaved people, holding them captive through two more harvest seasons.

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and his troops (190) arrived in Galveston, TX, where 250, 000 black people were still being held captive-to announce the end of the civil war and the end of slavery. And that the government would not relent until the last enslaved people in America were free.

On June 17, 2021 President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making June 19 the 2nd federal holiday commemorating African Americans struggle for freedom and equal rights since the recognition of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday in 1983.