Happy Juneteenth 2023

The Juneteenth flag designed by Ben Haith in 1997.

Today is Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Juneteenth Independence Day. It was on January 1 1863 that Abraham Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved people in the Confederate States of America. It would take some time to enforce the Proclamation in more remote areas. It was then on June 19 1965 that Major General Gordon Granger  of the United States Army came to the island of Galveston, Texas. He was take command of the Union troops there to enforce the emancipation of the slaves there. It was then that an order declaring that all slaves were free in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation was read. This effectively ended slavery in the South, although it would continue in the Border States of  Delaware and Kentucky until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified on December 9 1965.

It was then a year later, on June 19 1866 that the first Juneteenth celebration was held. That day the formerly enslaved people of Galveston gathered to celebrate "Jubilee Day." Juneteenth celebrations would spread from Gavelston to other parts of Texas. As the name, "Juneteenth," it dates back to the 1890s.

The holiday was officially recognized by the State of Texas in 1938 when then Governor James Allred issued a proclamation set aside June 20 1938 for observance of Emancipation Day (June 19 fell on a Sunday that year).  The Great Migration of African Americans between 1910 and 1970 would spread the celebration to other parts of the United States. The celebration of Juneteenth would decline in the mid-20th Century, only to be revived in the late Sixties and the Seventies. It was in the late Seventies that Juneteenth was recognized by the State of Texas as an official state holiday. Since then it was recognized by other states. It became a Federal holiday with the signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on June 17 2021.

Wishing everyone a very happy Juneteenth!