JUNETEENTH (June 19, 2026)
Juneteenth commemorates the date in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced to enslaved Black Americans that they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later.
Initially, the Civil War between North and South was fought by the North to prevent the secession of the Southern states and preserve the Union. Even though sectional conflicts over slavery had been a major cause of the war, ending slavery was not a goal of the war. That changed on September 22, 1862, when President Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that enslaved people in those states or parts of states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would be declared free. One hundred days later, with the rebellion unabated, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious areas "are, and henceforward, shall be free."
Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. General Gordon Granger announced General Order No. 3, that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people in Texas. Because it is a fixed calendar date rather than a "floating" holiday (like the third Monday of a month), the day of the week changes from year to year. When June 19 falls on a weekend, government offices and many businesses typically observe the holiday on the closest weekday, but the actual anniversary remains June 19.