ABOUT Juneteenth, observed annually on June 19, marks the day in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. Although the proclamation had been signed by President Abraham Lincoln over two years earlier, many enslaved African Americans in Texas remained unaware of their freedom. Upon taking command of the District of Texas as the Civil War was drawing to a close, Granger found that slavery was still actively practiced in the region.

To address this, Granger issued General Order No. 3, which 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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”

This historic moment is widely regarded as the effective end of slavery in the United States and is now recognized as a federal holiday commemorating Black freedom and resilience.

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