On January 1, 1863, the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. However, it wasn’t until June 19th 1865, two and half years later, when Union Soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War was over, the Union Army had claimed victory, and that all enslaved were now free.Union Major General Gordon Granger’s first order of business was to read General Order Number 3, which began,
"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."
Eventually the celebration of June 19th was coined “Juneteenth” and celebrations grew amongst the descendants of those who were once slaves. In its infancy, Juneteenth was only celebrated within the African Americans communities as there was resistance from former slave owners, as far as barring the use of public properties for the festivities. With the Great Depression forcing many rural dwellers to metropolitan areas to find work, came a decline in Juneteenth activities as employers were less eager to grant a day off of work and the 4th of July was already considered the only Independence holiday. With the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s and the Poor Peoples March to Washington D.C., there was a resurgence of Juneteenth celebrations. Juneteenth first became an official state holiday in Texas on January 1, 1980 and a federal holiday after President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in law on June 17, 2021. The official Juneteenth federal holiday now falls on June 19th every year.
