On Thursday, President Biden officially made Juneteenth a federal holiday, per NBC.
That last part is important because, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, there were minimal Union troops in Texas and other parts of the Confederacy to actually enforce the law, according to. That's when General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas with Union soldiers and announced that the Civil War had ended-two months earlier on April 9, 1865-and that all enslaved people were free and that this freedom would be enforced, per NBC. Despite what you may have learned about the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) and the ratification of the 13th Amendment (December 6, 1865), the truth is that there were still holdouts across the Confederacy up until June 19, 1865. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, is the official date that the last enslaved people became emancipated in America. Black lives, history, and contributions deserve to be recognized-and June 19 is the perfect day to do it. Juneteenth is almost here, and this year, there are so many ways to pay tribute to the holiday while honoring Black Americans.
