Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, specifically the day enslaved people in Texas were finally told they were free on June 19, 1865.

What Juneteenth Is Celebrating

  • The end of slavery in the United States, marked by the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865.
  • The arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas, who announced that enslaved people were legally free—more than two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
  • The beginning of a new, though difficult, chapter of freedom and citizenship for formerly enslaved African Americans.

In short, Juneteenth celebrates freedom , the delayed delivery of that freedom in Texas, and the resilience of Black communities in the face of slavery and its long aftermath.