Juneteenth

A relatively unknown celebration until 1980, Juneteeth acknowledges the pronouncement of the eradication of slavery in the state of Texas. The irony, was the June 19th, 1865 date came approximately 2 ½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation; which was drafted to free all slaves in the confederate states. The Juneteeth holiday is important because many confederate states; (Texas being one of them) did not acknowledge the proclamation, and continued with the practice of slavery. The Western- Texas slaves, whose master’s still obeyed confederate regulation, were not granted their freedom until union forces arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865.