Juneteenth is the oldest internationally

celebrated commemoration of the ending

of slavery in the United States. 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.