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What Is Juneteenth?

Although the Emancipation Proclamation had been announced on January 1, 1863, it had little effect on the lives of enslaved people in the south until the end of the Civil War in April 1865.

Even after the Confederate surrender and the end of the civil War, the state of Texas remained under Confederate control.  Slavery continued in that state until June 19, 1865 (two months after the official end of the Civil War).  June 19 marks the day that Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 Federal troops arrived on Galveston island to take possession of the state and to enforce enslaved people's new freedoms.

On this day, Granger read the contents of "General Order 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.  This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connections heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.

Today, June 19th, or "Juneteenth," is a celebration commemorating the date on which all slavery in the United States ended.

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