Juneteenth: Understanding its History, Significance, and Celebration.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War. It became federally recognized in 2021 after President Joe Biden signed legislation adding it to the government holiday calendar. The holiday is observed on June 19, the day in 1865 when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger announced that all slaves were free under the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth has been celebrated by communities across the country for more than a century and gained renewed attention during the Black Lives Matter movement.