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Juneteenth is one of the oldest celebrated commemorations of the end of slavery in the United States. While the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, it could not be fully enforced in states still under Confederate control and, as a result, hundreds of thousands of Black people remained enslaved. More than two years later, on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that the Civil War had ended, and all enslaved people were free. This momentous day became known as Juneteenth.
In 2021, Congress passed, and President Biden signed, legislation naming Juneteenth a federal holiday in recognition of the history and process of emancipation in the 19th century, the ongoing struggle for liberation, and the cultural traditions and resilience of African American communities in the United States.
Additional Juneteenth information and resources are available at the university's Beyond Juneteenth website.