How Juneteenth Became a National Holiday

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Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19, marks the end of slavery in the United States. The holiday, also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Black Independence Day, became a federal holiday in 2021. Here's the history of Juneteenth:

General Gordon Granger's announcement in Galveston in 1865

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, formally freed enslaved people on September 22, 1862. Yet, this didn't reach many parts of the country.

On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, announcing all enslaved people were free, proclaiming General Order No. 3:

June 19, then, became a date representing freedom.

"In 1776 the country was freed from the British, but the people were not all free," Dee Evans, national director of communications of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, said. "June 19, 1865, was actually when the people and the entire country was actually free."

Celebrations begin in Texas in 1866

Galveston began celebrating Juneteenth on June 19, 1866, a year after Granger's proclamation. Juneteenth is the oldest known nationally celebrated event commemorating the end of slavery.

Per Juneteenth.com, "The Juneteenth celebration was a time for reassuring each other, for praying and for gathering remaining family members. Juneteenth continued to be highly revered in Texas decades later, with many former slaves and descendants making an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston on this date." Celebrations included rodeos, fishing, barbecuing, and prayer services.

A Texas state holiday in 1980

Juneteenth was proclaimed an official state holiday in Texas in 1980, thanks to the efforts of Representative Albert "Al" Edwards, a Black Texan state legislator, and his bill, H.B. 1016., which was signed into law in 1979.

"This accomplishment was not without difficulties," he wrote in June 1980. Edwards explained, "The official recognition of Emancipation Day is a significant step forward. It is a symbol and symbols are important. What are the cross and flag but symbols. I believe the Biblical injunction that 'It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.' I feel that for a state which not too long ago celebrated Jefferson Davis' Birthday, now to celebrate the end of slavery means that many have now seen the light of someone's candle. This is a holiday not just for Black Texans but for all Texans. This is a day to take pride in our culture and history."

Edwards concluded his message, "Freedom is worth celebrating and I am pleased that we in Texas have been celebrating it for 115 years. I am proud that the celebration is now official and that I had a part in making it so."

It was eventually adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.

Campaigns for Juneteenth to become a federal holiday

Opal Lee, a native Texan, lead the charge for Juneteenth to become federally recognized. Known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," she started a walking campaign to bring awareness to the holiday in 2016, walking from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. She told NPR, "I was thinking that surely, somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress and notice."

President Biden makes Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021

In response to the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, Congress voted to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. (You can read the bill here.) "For far too long, the story of our country’s history has been incomplete, as we have failed to acknowledge, address and come to grips with our nation’s original sin of slavery," lead sponsor Senator Edward J. Markey said.

On June 17, 2021, Biden signed the legislation into law, making Juneteenth the first new federal holiday in 40 years.

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