Today, we celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the date of June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger announced federal orders in the city of Galveston, Texas, proclaiming, “In accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln had formally freed slaves held in the Confederacy on January 1, 1863, but Texas was the most remote of the slave states, which meant full enforcement of the proclamation had not yet occurred there.
Juneteenth has been celebrated in Texas dating back to 1866 and is now celebrated as a federal holiday throughout the United States and a state holiday in Illinois.