Happy Juneteenth Day

On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed a bill making June 19th—known as Juneteenth—a federal holiday.

American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, and that it officially ended almost exactly four years later on April 9, 1865. This was the date on which Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia. News traveled slowly and by letter in those days.

As a result, it wasn’t until two months afterward that Union General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas with about 2,000 Union troops to inform the community that the war was over and African Americans could no longer be legally enslaved. He arrived on June 19, 1865, and it’s on this day each year that Juneteenth is celebrated. Because it was the last place to learn the news, Galveston, Texas is considered the true birthplace of Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is effectively America’s second independence day, the holiday is also known as “Juneteenth Independence Day,” “Freedom Day,” and “Emancipation Day.”