06/19/2026
Union soldiers finally made it to Galveston, Texas, to let enslaved people know they were free long after the Emancipation Proclamation had legally granted it. Juneteenth marks the official end of slavery in the US, and it is a day centered on recognizing that history and the resilience of Black Americans.
Even though freedom had already been declared by law, Texas was the most remote state of the Confederacy. Because there were very few Union troops around to enforce the law, Texas enslavers deliberately kept the news quiet to get through multiple cotton harvest cycles using forced labor.
When Major General Gordon Granger finally arrived in Galveston with federal troops, he read General Order No. 3 aloud to the public. The order explicitly declared “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves”. Shortly after, newly freed people organized the first official Juneteenth celebrations, a tradition that has been kept alive for generations.
