History

The day of June 19th, 1865 was the day that every slave held in captivity in this country knew that they were no longer slaves, even though President Lincoln had signed into law that ALL slaves in the US were to be free men on Jan 1st, 1863, roughly two and a half years earlier. Due to the lack of infrastructure and the remoteness of some areas the news didn’t arrive for a while, and that became the day we call Juneteenth.

The month of June combined with the 19th, the day that the news arrived. Immediately afterwards multiple celebrations arose but over time they all diminished, but have been resurgent over the past decade. Most of these celebrations are family orientated and are usually in remembrance, so you see a lot of festivals, cookouts, and somber speeches taking place. As of today 47 states recognize Juneteenth Day as a state holiday, or day of observance but it still hasn’t been recognized as a national holiday yet.

There are a few organizations that are trying to get it to be designated as a national day of observance, so we know that it will come soon.