Juneteenth

Juneteenth celebrates African-American culture and the emancipation of the last slaves in the United States.

News of the Emancipation Proclamation had already traveled by word of mouth through much of the Confederacy. In Mississippi, slaves who called themselves the 4Ls ("Lincoln's Legal Loyal League") secretly carried the message to plantations in the region.

On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger landed on Galveston Island, Texas and announced that all slaves in Texas were freed - two years after the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 had freed them.

Since the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to Confederate-held territory, slavery was still legal in Delaware and Kentucky until December 18, 1865, with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. The last slaves in North America were freed in 1866 from the Choctaw Nation in present-day Oklahoma.

Freed people began celebrating Juneteenth immediately, but because of segregation, some communities didn't allow African-Americans to celebrate in public parks. So black leaders in Houston raised money to purchase 11 acres for what is now Emancipation Park.

Juneteenth is a federal and state holiday, and state employees get the day off when it falls on a weekday.