JUNETEENTH  – June 19, 1865

The Day African-Americans Achieved Freedom from Slavery

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln declared on January 1, 1863 that all slaves were freed in states that were in rebellion. However, the promise of the Proclamation was not fulfilled until the Union Armies defeated the Confederate forces throughout the South in the spring of 1865, and, finally, until Major General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas on June 19th with nearly 2,000 Union soldiers and the last stronghold of slavery fell and the last 250,000 slaves held in Texas were freed. The Civil War won emancipation for 4 million African-Americans. Celebrate Juneteenth.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!