Juneteenth Celebration

The Eddie Mae Herron Center has celebrated Juneteenth for two decades. While Juneteenth has immense meaning for the African American community, it actually has value for every person — regardless of race, culture, or background. A celebration of freedom for any group is a celebration of the ideals that we value as a nation.

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It marks our country’s second Independence Day. Although it has long been celebrated in the African American community, this monumental event often seems unknown to many Americans.

What Happened on June 19, 1865?

The last Confederate community of enslaved Americans in Galveston, TX received word that they had been freed from bondage, when General Granger arrived and read the Emancipation Proclamation to the town. This effectively freed the 250,000 enslaved in the state of Texas, which had become the last bastion for slavery during the final days of the Civil War.

News traveled slowly back in those days—it took Confederate soldiers in Texas more than two months to hear that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox.

Later, the enactment of Jim Crow laws dampened large-scale celebrations of freedom. The celebration of Juneteenth was revived during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The Poor People's March on Washington in 1968 planned by Martin Luther King Jr. was purposely scheduled to coincide with the Juneteenth date.

The first state-sponsored, modern-era Juneteenth celebration was held in Texas in 1980.

On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which officially made Juneteenth a federal holiday.