HISTORIC ARTICLE

HISTORIC ARTICLE

Jun 19, 1866 CE: Juneteenth

Jun 19, 1866 CE: Juneteenth

On June 19, 1866, formerly enslaved Black people in the U.S. state of Texas celebrated a year of emancipation with the “Juneteenth” holiday.

Grades

9 - 12

Subjects

Social Studies, Civics, U.S. History

















NGS Resource Carousel Loading Logo
Loading ...
Selected text level

On June 19, 1866, formerly enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, celebrated a year of emancipation, or freedom, with the “Juneteenth” holiday. Juneteenth celebrations quickly spread to the rest of the country, and the date continues to be the oldest known tradition honoring the end of slavery in the United States.

On June 19, 1865, U.S. Major General Gordon Granger performed a public reading of General Order Number 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Granger’s announcement came two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln declared the end of slavery in states in rebellion during the Civil War with the Emancipation Proclamation. At the time, however, the United States could not free those enslaved people held by Confederates. The event largely recognized as the end of the Civil War, and the Confederacy, was the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in April 1865.

As the Confederacy began losing the war, Texas became a refuge for enslavers to keep those they had enslaved. Texas was the westernmost Confederate state and one with little U.S. Army presence since there was little fighting there. More than 150,000 enslaved people were forced to move to Texas.

In Texas, formerly enslaved people almost immediately organized and purchased lands as “emancipation grounds” for the annual Juneteenth gathering. Emancipation Park (formerly the Colored Emancipation Park) in Houston, Emancipation Park in Austin, and Emancipation Park in Mexia (now Booker T. Washington Park) were all created as sites for Juneteenth celebrations.

But following Granger’s announcement of emancipation, not all was good news. Texas enslavers often delayed delivering the news of freedom until the harvest or the arrival of a U.S. agent. Other African Americans faced terroristic racial violence from the white populace.

Today, Juneteenth celebrations include picnics, rodeos, barbeques, parades, and readings of the Emancipation Proclamation and the work of African-American authors, such as Ralph Ellison, whose posthumously published second novel is titled Juneteenth.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writer
National Geographic Society
Producer
National Geographic Society
other
Last Updated

February 7, 2024

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources