# Juneteenth

*America’s emancipation holiday: Black American origin, continuous observance since 1866, and record.*

> Black's Encyclopedia — the sourced record of Black American life.
> Portal: History & Migration · Status: Verified record · Revised: June 19, 2026 · Revisions: 31
> Canonical: https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/juneteenth

## Summary

Juneteenth (June 19) is the oldest nationally observed commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. It marks June 19, 1865, when Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 at Galveston, Texas, announcing that all enslaved people in Texas were free, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had declared it. It became a federal holiday in 2021, one hundred fifty-six years after the first celebration.

## The archive's standing

Juneteenth is an American independence holiday. The completion of the nation's founding promise belongs to the whole nation, and the archive files the day accordingly: everyone is invited, the origin is ours, and neither fact diminishes the other. Whether the mainstream chooses to celebrate is its own account to settle, not this record's burden to argue.

## Galveston, 1865

General Order No. 3 was read at points around Galveston on June 19, 1865: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” Freedom had been law since January 1863; Texas, the most remote of the Confederate states, was where the word arrived last, carried finally by federal troops rather than by planters who had every reason not to tell.

## Tradition and observance

The first anniversary celebrations began in 1866, with church services, readings of the order, music, and the red foods that still mark the table. In 1872, Black ministers and businessmen in Houston pooled $800 to purchase ten acres of land expressly for the celebration, naming it Emancipation Park; it remains the oldest park in Texas. The  carried the observance out of Texas to every city the migration touched.

## Recognition

Texas made Juneteenth a paid state holiday in 1980, the first state to do so. On June 17, 2021, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act made it the eleventh federal holiday, the first new one since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

## Setting the record straight

**The claim:** A new holiday, for one group, that the rest of the country has no part in.

**The record:** An American emancipation, observed continuously for 155 years before the federal government joined in. The completion of the nation’s founding promise is, by definition, a national event.

## Sources

1. Gordon-Reed, Annette. On Juneteenth. Liveright, 2021.
2. General Order No. 3, Headquarters District of Texas, June 19, 1865. National Archives.
3. Texas House Bill 1016 (1979), establishing Emancipation Day as an official state holiday.
4. Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, Pub. L. 117–17, June 17, 2021.
5. Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Address, Rochester, N.Y., July 5, 1852.

## Related records

- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/great-migration
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/black-church

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Cite as: Black's Encyclopedia, "Juneteenth," revised June 19, 2026. https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/juneteenth

Text under the Black's Record License: cite the record, keep attribution attached, cite the revision date.