Research Guides: Juneteenth: Learn More

“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.”
—General Orders, Number 3; Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, June 19, 1865

Image via SFIst: All About Juneteenth, the Holiday Celebrating the End of Slavery

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth, sometimes also called “Freedom Day” and “Emancipation Day”, or the nation’s “Second Independence Day,” takes place in Texas every year on June 19^th. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, ordering all slaves to be freed in the seceding southern states. However, freedom would not come for all enslaved Black people until the end of the Civil War at the hands of the Union Army. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, where General Granger announced that “in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

There are scholars who argue that indeed the news of emancipation traveled more quickly and widely throughout the country than is given credence in the history books. There is evidence of large numbers of slaves escaping to freedom after hearing of the emancipation, and there is evidence of many of them joining the Union Army in order to help liberate others still held in bondage. Union General Grant praised and acknowledged the effectiveness and courage of the Black Regiments who fought in the effort to free their brothers and sisters from chains.

An effort to make Juneteenth a national holiday finally succeeded with the passage of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on June 16, 2021.

Source: What Is Juneteenth? by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Federal government to observe Juneteenth holiday on Friday
Juneteenth: The Celebration of a New Freedom in America
Biden signs Juneteenth bill, creating new federal holiday commemorating end of slavery in U.S.
Juneteenth National Independence Day is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
Who Made Juneteenth?
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"If you ask Black people born and raised on the island, Juneteenth marks the day Black soldiers in blue uniforms came with their guns to Galveston." - TIME
Juneteenth - Research Starter
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Background information and overview of Juneteenth, including history and becoming a Federal Holiday.
On Juneteenth, Freedom Came With Strings Attached
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"Perhaps the best way to consider Juneteenth is not as the moment Black people attained freedom but as a moment in the long-running struggle to realize freedom." - NYT
The 1890s : Black Codes
At the 1866 Constitutional Convention, Texans imposed restrictive laws, known as Black Codes, upon African Americans that limited their autonomy. - Texas State Library and Archives Commission

On Becoming a Federal Holiday

Opal Lee, 94 year old activist from Ft. Worth, speaking before Congress in support of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.

"Never before, millions have been aware of the atrocities that happened to the enslaved or the blatant disregard for human life that is now occurring, (which is) a residual effect of slavery."

- Lawmakers reintroduce Juneteenth Bill. This 94 year old will do "whatever it takes" to make it a National Holiday.

Senate moves to create holiday.

“Juneteenth is about reclaiming our history, rejoicing in the progress we’ve made, and recommitting to the work yet undone," said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., in a press release announcing the measure.

- Senators Propose Bill to Make Juneteenth a Federal Holiday.

President Biden signs legislation to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday in June 2021.

Opal Lee, the Amazing Woman Behind Juneteenth's Long Road To Becoming A National Holiday, her background and experiences in leading the crusade.

Musician Pharrell Williams on Juneteenth becoming recognized as a Federal holiday.

Senate approves bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday
The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it to President Joe Biden for his signature. AP News - PBS.org
Biden Signs Law Making Juneteenth a Federal Holiday
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The law went into effect immediately, making Friday the first federal Juneteenth holiday in American history. - NYT

Why Celebrate Juneteenth?

Juneteenth: A conversation between Deirdre Cooper Owens a professor, public speaker and author of the book Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, and Hasan Kwame Jeffries, associate professor of history at The Ohio State University and author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt.

Juneteenth: Justice, Freedom and Democracy, a presentation by 6 different African American museums highlighting the history, significance, and importance of Juneteenth through reenactments, music, dance, and storytelling.

Secretary of the Smithsonian and Director and Founder of the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Lonnie G. Bunch III discusses the legacy and significance of Juneteenth.

A Vox news feature answering the question of why all Americans should honor Juneteenth. Documents, photos, and interviews highlight the painstaking journey of a resilient people from bondage to freedom.

Juneteenth Flag Coloring Page

All About Juneteenth

The Daily Show (starring Trevor Noah) segment about the national holiday that celebrates the end of slavery, Juneteenth, explained by Daily Show Correspondent, Dulce Sloan.

Juneteenth explained in a Vice News segment.

The characters of Blackish educate us about Juneteenth, featuring the Legendary Roots Crew in animation and song.

A video interview with Annette Gordon-Reed, author of On Juneteenth, conducted by the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Discussion by the African American news publication The Root, on the importance and significance of Juneteenth to America.

The Juneteenth Book Festival Symposium on Black Literature & Literacy
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National Book Festival Presents: Race in America, Jason Reynolds and Jacqueline Woodson
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Juneteenth
Video, Stories, and Art online relating to Juneteenth, its history, celebrations, and important figures and organizations.

5 Festive Recipes for a Juneteenth Feast
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Make one, or make them all. Just make them yours. Light and easy recipes for a strawberry ginger limeade, garlicky chicken sandwiches topped with a crunchy slaw, a deeply satisfying shrimp jambalaya, crisp okra made for sharing and tossed with a sweet honey-based sauce, all capped off with bright-red strawberry pretzel bars. - NYT
Juneteenth Juice
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Food Writer Toni Tipton-Martin explains why the color red is so important to Juneteenth food celebrations. - Essence.com

Emancipation Proclamation National Archives
The Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." (plus image). National Archives
General Order Number Three
"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free." The Greenwood Art Project Marlon Hall 2021
The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth
Our country’s "Second Independence Day" has long been celebrated among the African American community, and it's time to share this history with a wider public. Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Interview with Laura Smalley, Hempstead, Texas, 1941 (part 4 of 5) Audio Recording
Laura Smally tells of learning she was free as a child on a plantation near Bellville, Texas. She describes the difficult conditions for slave children there in this 1941 interview with John Henry Faulk. She was a child when she was freed, she says she was about 10 years old when she and her mother left the plantation. She concludes the first segment of the interview with a mention of the annual celebration that would grow out of the freeing of slaves in Texas (Juneteenth). LOC
Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States; signed by Abraham Lincoln and Congress
Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 3. General Correspondence. 1837-1897: Congress, Wednesday, February 01, 1865 (Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States; signed by Abraham Lincoln and Congress) (image) Manuscript/Mixed Material
Juneteenth
On June 19th, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. The following documents and tintypes provide context to what Juneteenth truly means. The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
Juneteenth: Fact Sheet, Higgins, Molly. Congressional Research Service
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Slavery in America and the World : History, Culture & Law
HeinOnline.org (Database)
Today in History - June 19
On June 17, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. signed into law the bill that established Juneteenth National Independence Day, June 19, as a legal public holiday. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the date Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and delivered General Order No. 3 announcing the end of legalized slavery in Texas. Historically, it has been a holiday celebrated by people of African descent in the United States, as well as people in Canada, Jamaica, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and other countries throughout the world. Juneteenth is also a “symbolic date” representing the African American struggle for freedom and equality, and a celebration of family and community. LOC
Emancipation Proclamation and "Juneteenth" General Order No. 3 on exhibit
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A video interview with Naomi Mitchell Carrier discussing the legacy of Juneteenth in a Washington Post documentary segment. Naomi Mitchell Carrier is an Author, Historian, Founder & Executive Director of The Texas Center for African American Living History.

National Archives Safeguards Original ‘Juneteenth’ General Order
The official handwritten record of General Order No. 3, is preserved at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. - National Archives News

Juneteenth Texas by Francis Edward Abernethy (Editor); Alan Govenar (Editor); Patrick B. Mullen (Editor)
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Collection: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) Limited User Access (1 copy)
ISBN: 9781574410181
Published: 1996
Juneteenth Texas, Publications of the Texas Folklore Society #LIV, received a San Antonio Conservation Society award for the preservation of historic buildings, objects and places relating to the history of Texas and its natural beauty and all that is admirably distinctive of our state, and to educate the public with knowledge of our inherited regional values.
Lone Star Pasts by Elizabeth Hayes Turner (Editor); W. Fitzhugh Brundage (Foreword by); Gregg Cantrell (Editor)
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Collection: Ebook Central (Unlimited Access)
ISBN: 9781585445691
Published: 2006
Chapter 6 Juneteenth: Emancipation and Memory.
This chapter explores the historical event in detail, it's meaning, and the memories of those who witnessed the announcement of freedom in 1865.
It Happened in Texas: Remarkable Events That Shaped History by James A. Crutchfield
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Collection: Ebook Central (Unlimited Access)
ISBN: 9780762771967
Published: 2015
Links opens the chapter "The Emancipation of Juneteenth, 1865."
-two months after the main Confederate armies surrendered to the Union— that Major General Gordon Granger stepped off a ship at Galveston and, on behalf of the new president, Andrew Johnson, issued a historic declaration: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
To Plead Our Own Cause by Kevin Bales (Editor); Zoe Trodd (Editor)
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Collection: Ebook Central (Unlimited Access)
ISBN: 9780801458323
Published: 2010
Boys strapped to carpet looms in India, women trafficked into sex slavery across Europe, children born into bondage in Mauritania, and migrants imprisoned at gunpoint in the United States are just a few of the many forms slavery takes in the twenty-first century. There are twenty-seven million slaves alive today, more than at any point in history, and they are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. To Plead Our Own Cause contains ninety-five narratives by slaves and former slaves from around the globe. Told in the words of slaves themselves, the narratives movingly and eloquently chronicle the horrors of contemporary slavery, the process of becoming free, and the challenges faced by former slaves as they build a life in freedom.
The Laws of Slavery in Texas by Randolph B. Campbell (Editor); William S. Pugsley (Contribution by); Marilyn P. Duncan (Contribution by)
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Collection: Ebook Central (Unlimited Access)
ISBN: 9780292793101
Published: 2010
The laws that governed the institution of slavery in early Texas were enacted over a fifty-year period in which Texas moved through incarnations as a Spanish colony, a Mexican state, an independent republic, a part of the United States, and a Confederate state. This unusual legal heritage sets Texas apart from the other slave-holding states and provides a unique opportunity to examine how slave laws were enacted and upheld as political and legal structures changed. See Article: The End of Slavery in Texas: A Research Note.

Juneteenth: Celebration & Legacy

BlackPast.org
Juneteenth: The Growth of an African American Holiday (1865- )
Historian Quintard Taylor describes the origins and evolution of the Juneteenth holiday sine 1865.
Juneteenth World Wide Celebration
"During Juneteenth we acknowledge the African American spirit and pay tribute to the roles and contributions which have enriched our society."
Juneteenth : A Celebration of Resilience
NMAAHC
"Juneteenth is a time to celebrate, gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future. The National Museum of African American History and Culture invites you to engage in your history and discover ways to celebrate this holiday."
The Juneteenth Legacy Project
The Juneteenth Legacy Project aims to recontextualize Juneteenth as a pivotal moment in the arc of U.S. history while properly telling the story of its genesis, and historical and contemporary relevance.
Juneteenth Foundation - Celebrating Freedom and Black Culture
The Juneteenth Foundation is a 501(C)3 organized by a group of professionals championing the celebration of Juneteenth as a federal holiday in the United States and around the world.

Celebrating Juneteenth with Galveston's historical markers. ABC News 13 story shares the history of Juneteenth where it happened in Galveston and points out the historical markers that commemorate the oldest celebration of the end of slavery in the United States.

Honoring Juneteenth Through Art in Galveston
On June 19, 1865, a Union general issued an order that led to the freeing of slaves in Texas. A mural will now mark the spot where it happened.
Juneteenth Holiday Holds Special Meaning in Galveston
Galveston's Ashton Villa is one of the locations historians say the message of the General Order No. 3 was announced to the public, informing enslaved people of their freedom. - Texas A&M Galveston
Celebrating Black History & Culture in Galveston
The Birthplace of Juneteenth, Galveston Island holds a special place in the United States and in African American history. - Visit Galveston
Emancipation Park 150th Juneteenth Celebration
Emancipation Park, the oldest public park in Houston, was founded in 1872 by formerly enslaved African Americans led by Reverend Jack Yates, Richard Allen, Richard Brock, and Reverend Elias Dibble. These men, along with members of the Third and Fourth Ward communities, gathered $800 to purchase ten acres of land as a place to commemorate the anniversary of their emancipation on ‘Juneteenth’, June 19, 1865. The purchase represented not only their freedom, but property ownership, unity, and African American commerce.
Annette Gordon-Reed Explores the Tangled Meaning of Juneteenth
Texas Monthly
How Juneteenth's history is being reshaped as America reckons with its past
"Much like June 1865, this moment, the one we live in now, this is a big moment of reckoning," one historian said. - NBC News
So You Want to Learn About Juneteenth?
"On June 19, 1865, enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, were told they were free. A century and a half later, people in cities and towns across the U.S. continue to celebrate the occasion." - NYT
Galveston was home to the first Juneteenth. Here's how it'll celebrate this year
"Americans will celebrate Juneteenth for the fourth year since it was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021. But for many families in Galveston, Texas, where the holiday originated, celebrations have been a mainstay for generations." - NPR

How an annual pageant became a beloved Juneteenth celebration in Texas and beyond
For its participants, Miss Juneteenth is more than a beauty pageant. It's a celebration of joy, a remembrance of pain and an honoring of Black girlhood. A texas tradition: crowning Miss Juneteenth. NBC News
What does it mean to be crowned Miss Juneteenth?
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This month, as celebrations to commemorate the Juneteenth holiday begin, dozens of Black girls and women across the country will be competing for a singular title: Miss Juneteenth.
Miss Juneteenth
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A former beauty queen and single mom prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the "Miss Juneteenth" pageant.

Echoes of Freedom : A Spoken Word Journey for Juneteenth
Lone Star College - Office of Culture and Engagement
Join us on June 14th from 3:00 pm-4:00 pm to celebrate Juneteenth with two Houston-based Spoken Word Artists as they share the struggles, experiences, and triumphs of the African American community. This is a hybrid event and refreshments will be provided for in-person attendees.

Date: June 14th
Time 3:00pm-4:00pm
Location: SO-TW, Ballroom I (5000 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77381)

Virtual Meeting Link: https://lonestar-edu.zoom.us/j/82916647276?pwd=UTJnVlRQTFZWZzVDVEtYTlp0QUl6UT09

Passcode: LSC-OCE
Juneteenth Celebration A Night of Culture and Inspiration
LSC-Montgomery invites everyone to join in our celebration of Juneteenth. The evening will be filled with poetry, music, and a special presentation from Kevin Burns Jr. Kevin Burns Jr. was born and raised in southwest Houston, Texas. Currently Kevin works for the University of Houston as a senior administrator and spends his time contributing to his community by mentoring youth, leading a poetry ministry at his church, and volunteering. He is committed to making a difference in the world, one poem, one case, and one student at a time.

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