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ShowsThis Day In HistoryScheduleTopicsStories * History Classics * Live TV * Your Profile Your Profile History * Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window) * Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window) * Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window) * Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window) * Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window) Email Updates * Live TV * History Classics * Shows * This Day In History * Schedule * Topics * Stories * Videos * History Podcasts * History Vault * Shop * History Travel 1. Home 2. Topics 3. Black History 4. What Is Juneteenth? WHAT IS JUNETEENTH? Juneteenth commemorates an effective end of slavery in the United States. By: Elizabeth Nix Updated: June 12, 2023 | Original: June 19, 2015 copy page linkPrint Page Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 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 Play Video Learn more Related contentRelated contentShare VideoShare Video Playing on Subtitles Language Settings * QualityAutomatic Automatic HD * SpeedNormal * SubtitleOptions Quality * Automatic Speed * 0.25 * 0.5 * Normal * 1.25 * 1.5 * 2 Subtitle Options * Font familyDefault * Font colorDefault * Font opacityDefault * Font sizeDefault * Background colorDefault * Background opacityDefault * Window colorDefault * Window opacityDefault * Character edge styleDefault Font family * Default * Monospaced Serif * Proportional Serif * Monospaced Sans-Serif * Proportional Sans-Serif Font color * Default * White * Yellow * Green * Cyan * Blue * Magenta * Red * Black Font opacity * Default * 25% * 50% * 75% * 100% Font size * Default * 50% * 75% * 100% * 150% * 200% Background color * Default * White * Yellow * Green * Cyan * Blue * Magenta * Red * Black Background opacity * Default * 0% * 25% * 50% * 75% * 100% Window color * Default * White * Yellow * Green * Cyan * Blue * Magenta * Red * Black Window opacity * Default * 0% * 25% * 50% * 75% * 100% Character edge style * Default * None * Drop Shadow * Raised * Depressed * Uniform Loaded: 0% 0:00 Progress: 0% 0:00 Progress: 0% PlayPlayMuteMute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Live Remaining Time -0:00 Watch in VRWatch in VR * , selecteddescriptions off Descriptions SubtitlesSubtitlesUnavailable UnavailableUnavailable UnavailableLanguageLanguageSettingsHDSettingsFullscreenFullscreen This is a modal window. Caption Settings Dialog Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400% Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadow Font FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps DefaultsDone * Powered by THEOplayer 2023.1.3 Close Related Content Close Share 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 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.” Play Video Learn more Related contentRelated contentShare VideoShare Video Playing on Subtitles Language Settings * QualityAutomatic Automatic HD * SpeedNormal * SubtitleOptions Quality * Automatic Speed * 0.25 * 0.5 * Normal * 1.25 * 1.5 * 2 Subtitle Options * Font familyDefault * Font colorDefault * Font opacityDefault * Font sizeDefault * Background colorDefault * Background opacityDefault * Window colorDefault * Window opacityDefault * Character edge styleDefault Font family * Default * Monospaced Serif * Proportional Serif * Monospaced Sans-Serif * Proportional Sans-Serif Font color * Default * White * Yellow * Green * Cyan * Blue * Magenta * Red * Black Font opacity * Default * 25% * 50% * 75% * 100% Font size * Default * 50% * 75% * 100% * 150% * 200% Background color * Default * White * Yellow * Green * Cyan * Blue * Magenta * Red * Black Background opacity * Default * 0% * 25% * 50% * 75% * 100% Window color * Default * White * Yellow * Green * Cyan * Blue * Magenta * Red * Black Window opacity * Default * 0% * 25% * 50% * 75% * 100% Character edge style * Default * None * Drop Shadow * Raised * Depressed * Uniform Loaded: 0% 0:00 Progress: 0% 0:00 Progress: 0% PlayPlayMuteMute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Live Remaining Time -0:00 Watch in VRWatch in VR * , selecteddescriptions off Descriptions SubtitlesSubtitlesUnavailable UnavailableUnavailable UnavailableLanguageLanguageSettingsHDSettingsFullscreenFullscreen This is a modal window. Caption Settings Dialog Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400% Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadow Font FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps DefaultsDone * Powered by THEOplayer 2023.1.3 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation Close Related Content Close Share 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. JUNETEENTH AND SLAVERY IN TEXAS 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. Keith Lance/Getty Images 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. Juneteenth 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 Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two and a half years earlier, as depicted in this illustration. The Juneteenth holiday honors the effective end of slavery in the United States. Crowds of people, recently freed from enslavement, carry copies of the Emancipation Proclamation in this 1864 illustration. The Union commander's notice of the Emancipation Proclamation, as posted to the citizens of Winchester, Virginia on January 5, 1863. A rare October 8, 1868 illustration printed in the Cincinnati Gazette reads, "Patience on a Monument." The illustration by Thomas Nast shows a freed man sitting atop a monument that lists evils perpetrated against Black people. A dead woman and children lie at the bottom of the monument, while violence and fires rage in the background. A photograph of a group of formerly enslaved people at a county almshouse, circa 1900. Students and teachers stand outside the Freedmen's Bureau school in Beaufort, South Carolina, circa 1865.Following the end of the Civil War, several schools opened up for Black families—and literacy rates climbed steadily. Read more. A formerly enslaved man and woman are shown at a plantation house in Greene County, Georgia, circa 1937. This photo shows Minerva and Edgar Bendy, who were formerly enslaved, in Woodville, Texas, circa 1937. The work-weathered hands of Henry Brooks, a formerly enslaved man from Greene County, Georgia, circa 1941. 1 / 9: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture HISTORY VAULT: ABRAHAM LINCOLN A definitive biography of the 16th U.S. president, the man who led the country during its bloodiest war and greatest crisis. WATCH NOW By: Elizabeth Nix -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CITATION INFORMATION Article TitleWhat Is Juneteenth? AuthorElizabeth Nix Website NameHISTORY URLhttps://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth Date AccessedJune 19, 2023 PublisherA&E Television Networks Last UpdatedJune 12, 2023 Original Published DateJune 19, 2015 FACT CHECK We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Print Page * Juneteenth SIGN UP FOR INSIDE HISTORY Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. Sign Up MORE ON THIS TOPIC | BLACK HISTORY THE SHORT-LIVED PROMISE OF ’40 ACRES AND A MULE’ As the Civil War was ending, recently freed Black people were promised land to start independent lives—but Lincoln’s assassination led to that plan’s demise. Read more THE FAILED 1846 AMENDMENT THAT TRIED TO CONTAIN SLAVERY Debate over the Wilmot Proviso inflamed North-South divisions ahead of the Civil War. Read more WHEN ABRAHAM LINCOLN TRIED TO RESETTLE FREE BLACK AMERICANS IN THE CARIBBEAN Lincoln wanted to end slavery—but wasn’t keen on integrating African Americans into US society. His first attempt to send them offshore proved disastrous. Read more HOW THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE CREATED THE AFRICAN DIASPORA The forced transport of enslaved people from Africa led to populations of Black people throughout North and South America and other parts of the world. Read more ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND FREDERICK DOUGLASS: INSIDE THEIR COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP The two 19th century leaders had deep respect for each other. But one was openly—and harshly—critical. Read more 8 KEY LAWS THAT ADVANCED CIVIL RIGHTS Since the abolishment of slavery, the U.S. government has passed several laws to address discrimination and racism against African Americans. 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