Juneteenth... what is it?
06/19/2020
Although celebrated nationwide, Freedom Day, Jubliee Day, or Liberation Day, began as a Texas State holiday. On this day, June 19th, 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger announced all slaves were now free. While the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 freed all persons from the bonds of chains, Texas was very remote and enforcement was non-existence. When the Union rolled through Texas, they were finally, and officially, liberated and freed. Read more here about the man who challenged the state to make it a holiday: