CCIW

Celebrating Juneteenth

Juneteenth –– is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. It was on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, that Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that all enslaved people were free. The time it took between is important to note, because it was not until June 19, 1865 that the January 1, 1863 declaration was enforced for all enslaved people to truly attain their freedom, which is why Juneteenth is such a defining moment in history.