Juneteenth: A Celebration of the End of Slavery

Juneteenth is a celebration that commemorates the ending of slavery in the US. From the official Juneteenth site:

Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

Let’s commemorate the end of slavery, but not forget that some 17,500 people are trafficked in the United States to this day.

Statistics from the Freedom Center.