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  1. Jun 20, 2022 · Union Gen. Gordon Granger set up his headquarters in Galveston, Texas, and famously signed an order June 19, 1865, "All slaves are free." President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday last year.

    • Overview
    • The Emancipation Proclamation
    • Juneteenth and Slavery in Texas
    • HISTORY Vault: Abraham Lincoln

    Juneteenth commemorates an effective end of slavery in the United States.

    Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday. Juneteenth 2023 will occur on Monday, June 19.

    More to History: Juneteenth & Civil Rights

    Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House two months earlier in Virginia, but slavery had remained relatively unaffected in Texas—until U.S. General Gordon Granger stood on Texas soil and read General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

    The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, had established that all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” 

    But in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t instantly free any enslaved people. The proclamation only applied to places under Confederate control and not to slave-holding border states or rebel areas already under Union control. However, as Northern troops advanced into the Confederate South, many enslaved people fled behind Union lines.

    In Texas, slavery had continued as the state experienced no large-scale fighting or significant presence of Union troops. Many enslavers from outside the Lone Star State had moved there, as they viewed it as a safe haven for slavery.

    After the war came to a close in the spring of 1865, General Granger’s arrival in Galveston that June signaled freedom for Texas’s 250,000 enslaved people. Although emancipation didn’t happen overnight for everyone—in some cases, enslavers withheld the information until after harvest season—celebrations broke out among newly freed Black people, and Juneteenth was born. That December, slavery in America was formally abolished with the adoption of the 13th Amendment.

    Illustrated print by Thomas Nast depicting life before and after emancipation.

    The year following 1865, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of "Jubilee Day" on June 19. In the ensuing decades, Juneteenth commemorations featured music, barbecues, prayer services and other activities, and as Black people migrated from Texas to other parts of the country the Juneteenth tradition spread. 

    In 1979, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday; several others followed suit over the years. In June 2021, Congress passed a resolution establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday; President Biden signed it into law on June 17, 2021. 

     

    A definitive biography of the 16th U.S. president, the man who led the country during its bloodiest war and greatest crisis.

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  2. Jun 18, 2024 · Why June 19? That was the date in 1865 when Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that slavery had been abolished. Texas was the last state where it was being ...

  3. Jun 17, 2024 · Members of Reedy Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church march to celebrate Juneteenth on June 19, 2021 in Galveston, Texas. Photo by Go Nakamura/Getty Images ... an important hub for business ...

  4. Sep 10, 2024 · More than two years would pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The formerly enslaved immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance.

    • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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  5. Jun 18, 2024 · Galveston, Texas, celebrates ... June 19th commemorates the fall of slavery in Galveston in 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation ... how important Juneteenth is and how much we ...

  6. Jun 17, 2021 · On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, who had fought for the Union, led a force of soldiers to Galveston, Texas, to deliver a very important message: The war was finally over, the Union had ...

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