This national federal holiday (also known as Emancipation Day) was signed into law, last year byPresident Biden. It commemorates June 19, 1865: the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told slaves of their emancipation. It is recognized as the day that President Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation was, finally, realized for all enslaved people in the United States. (The final battle of the Civil War was the Battle of Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, TX, on May 12-13, 1865.)
The holiday was first celebrated in Galveston, Texas, on that date in 1865 and has been celebrated, every year, in various communities in our nation since that first day of celebration in 1865. Be on the lookout for Juneteenth celebrations throughout our community.
