What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is a multi-cultural celebration of the triumph of the human spirit over the cruelty of slavery. It commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. That was also about two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed the enslaved in the Southern states.
As the story goes, some 250,000 enslaved people only learned of their freedom after Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that the president had issued a proclamation freeing them. On that day, Granger declared, “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 connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
For many years, Juneteenth has been largely under-recognized and under-celebrated. In 1980, Texas became the first state to recognize June 19 as a state holiday, which it did with legislation. For decades, Black community leaders in Lubbock have hosted Juneteenth Celebrations. In 2021, the U.S. Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act making June 19th the twelfth federal holiday.
