What Is Juneteenth?
- Editorial Team
- Jun 19, 2020
- 2 min read

Juneteenth (June 19th) represents the end of slavery and the celebration of Black liberation.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863. This declared all enslaved people in the Confederacy, set free.
This did not mean the end of slavery quite yet. News of this proclamation did not reach Texas until 2 ½ years later. Major General Gordon Granger issued the order below in Galveston, TX on June 19th, 1865.
“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 personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
Although slavery was forbidden with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it was not fully abolished and illegal until the 13th Amendment on January 31st, 1865. But June 19th, 1865 represents the day that the last enslaved people were freed in Texas.
Juneteenth is a vastly important date in our country but it is only officially a holiday in some states: it is not an official national holiday.
Our country recognizes July 4th as its Independence Day when not everyone had their independence. July 4th is not representative for all Americans. Juneteenth is a more representative date for when all Americans had their independence. Juneteenth needs to be a national holiday because of what it represents for Black Americans.
Important Dates
· 09/22/1862 – Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
· 01/01/1863 – the day it took effect
· 01/31/1865 – the 13th Amendment passed in Congress
· 12/06/1865 – 13th Amendment was ratified
· 04/09/1865 – Robert E. Lee surrenders, the Civil War ends
· 06/19/1865 – the last enslaved people are freed
· 06/19/2020 – Black people in America are still not free
“Juneteenth World Wide Celebration.” Www.Juneteenth.Com, www.juneteenth.com/. Accessed 19 June 2020.
Louis Gates JR, Henry. “What Is Juneteenth? African American History Blog | The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.” The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, 19 Sept. 2013, www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-juneteenth/. Accessed 19 June 2020.
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