Juneteenth

What happened

Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, announcing that all enslaved people were free — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the war's end. The news finally reached the roughly 250,000 people still enslaved in Texas.

Why it matters

Juneteenth, marking the day freedom reached the last enslaved Americans, became the oldest celebration of the end of slavery and, in 2021, a federal holiday.

Sources

• National Park Service. Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom · Reputable source