Juneteenth for All Ages

Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. The official holiday, Juneteenth National Independence Day, is also known as Black Independence Day. On June 19, 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had come two-and-a-half years earlier, on January 1, 1863, many *** owners continued to hold their slaves captive after the announcement. Therefore, Juneteenth became a symbolic date, representing African American freedom. Juneteenth is the oldest nationally-celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 17, 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday.