What is Juneteenth? Know the history, meaning and important facts of this holiday
By Team Newsable | First Published Jun 19, 2023, 12:36 PM ISTJuneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the abolition of slavery against African-Americans. It gets its name from the dates June and the nineteenth (19th). The day is notable because Galveston, Texas, allowed the release of the final Black Confederate slaves on June 19, 1865.
Juneteenth is the official name of this federal holiday. This yearly celebration of Juneteenth National Independence Day, also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Black Independence Day, and Juneteenth Independence Day, honours the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the abolition of slavery against African-Americans. It gets its name from the dates June and the nineteenth (19th). The day is notable because Galveston, Texas, allowed the release of the final Black Confederate slaves on June 19, 1865.
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Only Texas had proclaimed Juneteenth a state holiday for decades, but in recent years, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have all approved laws to legally recognise the occasion as well.
The federal holiday was first celebrated on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, a US Army commander and Union General during the Civil War, announced that all slaves had been freed as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The proclamation, issued into law by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years earlier and granting freedom to all enslaved persons in Confederate states, was the last to reach around 250,000 Black slaves in Texas.
Here are few facts about Juneteenth:
Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Liberation Day are additional names for Juneteenth.
Since the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983, it is the first federal holiday.
Opal Lee, a Texas-based activist, is a leading proponent of making Juneteenth a government holiday in the United States.
Texas was the first state to celebrate Juneteenth as a holiday in 1980.
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