On hundred and fifty-eight years later in 2021, Juneteenth becomes a Federal Holiday.
June 19 is celebrated as “Juneteenth,” in honor of one of the final acts of emancipation of slaves in the U.S.(1865)
This year, June 19 falls on a Sunday, so the federal holiday – established in 2021 by President Joe Biden – will be observed on Monday, June 20.
Federal offices, as well as many state and local ones, will be closed as will banks and other businesses. The U.S. Post Office will be closed, and mail will not run on June 20th.
The day is recognized as a state holiday in Alabama as well.
What is Juneteenth?
On June 19, 1865, the announcement was made that tens of thousands of African-Americans in Texas had been emancipated, closing the door on one of the last chapters of slavery in the U.S.
Juneteenth traces its origins back to Galveston, Texas where on June 19, 1865 Union soldiers, led by Major Gen. Gordon Granger landed in the city with news that the Civil War had ended and slaves were now free. The announcement came two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863 that freed slaves in Confederate states. However, since that proclamation was made during the Civil War, it was ignored by Confederate states and it wasn’t until the end of the war that the Executive Order was enforced in the South.
Granger delivered the news himself, reading General Order Number 3:
“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 heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
The day’s name is a combination of “June” and “nineteenth” in honor of the date of Granger’s announcement and first appeared around 1903. It is also known as African American Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.
