At the stroke of midnight, January 1, 1863, all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free.
But not everyone in Confederate territory were immediately freed. 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.
Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. Union General Gordon Granger and his troops traveled to Galveston, to announce General Order No. 3 on June 19. The Army General announced 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.
In 1980, Texas became the first U.S. state to make Juneteenth an official holiday.
The day is also deeply connected to activist Mrs. Opal Lee, affectionately known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” whose lifelong advocacy efforts were instrumental in making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, officially establishing it as a federal holiday.