Austin, Texas, on June 19, 1900
Juneteenth commemorates General Order No. 3 which was issued by Major General Gordon Granger, who arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. The issuing of this order and the arrival of Federal troops in Galveston effectively ended the Civil War and emancipated those confined to a life of enslavement. Specifically, Granger made the following declaration in General Order No. 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."
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves'' within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." On the ground, enslaved people and the Union army turned the promise of the Proclamation into a reality. Enslaved people sought freedom and safety by escaping to Union lines in Confederate-held territories. In the Western Theater, however, slaveowners in states like Mississippi and Louisiana could forcibly relocate thousands of enslaved individuals west to Texas to try to keep them from seeking freedom behind Union lines. Far from the bloodshed of the battlefield, tens of thousands of enslaved “refugees” remained in bondage even as many Confederate armies surrendered in the spring of 1865. Only after the Union army forced the surrender of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith at Galveston on June 2, 1865, would the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas be addressed and freedom granted. On June 19, 250,000 enslaved people were freed.
The issuing of General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865, marked an official date of emancipation for the enslaved population. Nonetheless, those affected faced numerous barriers to their freedoms. General Order No. 3 stipulated that former enslaved people remain at their present homes, were barred from joining the military, and would not be supported in 'idleness.' Essentially, the formerly enslaved were granted nothing beyond the title of emancipation. The official end of slavery in the United States came with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.
After becoming emancipated, many formerly enslaved people left Texas in great numbers. Most members of this exodus had the goal of reuniting with lost family members and paving a path to success in postbellum America. This widespread migration of former enslaved individuals after June 19 became known as 'the Scatter.'
On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which officially made Juneteenth a federal holiday. This holiday is the first holiday to be approved since President Ronald Reagan signed a 1983 bill that approved Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. Juneteenth is also recognized as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Cel-Liberation Day, Second Independence Day, and Emancipation Day. Juneteenth celebrations often include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs, and reading of works by noted African American writers. Celebrations also take the form of rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, and Miss Juneteenth contests.
