Juneteenth is commemorated on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army General Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom from slavery in Texas. Although the Emancipation Proclamation declared an end to slavery in the Confederate States, slavery was still legal and practiced in two Union border states – Delaware and Kentucky – until December 6, 1865, when ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished chattel slavery nationwide.
This week, for the first time in 40 years, Congress has passed legislation creating a new national holiday. By a voice vote in the Senate, and with a vote of 415-14 in the House, President Biden has signed the legislation into law commemorating Juneteenth, June 19, 2021, and thus every year forward, to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday.
Nothing is more important than Freedom as, without it, nothing else is possible.
