Exploring the Significance of Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday.
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day, and Emancipation Day, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It marks June 19, 1865, the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, proclaiming that the enslaved African Americans there were free. In 2021, Juneteenth became the latest federal holiday in the US, the first to be approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. As Black Americans continue to face systemic inequities, observing Juneteenth might be an opportunity to reflect on how far the nation has come and how much further there is to go.