Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. But it was largely unenforceable in Confederate states and Confederate-controlled remote areas, so the last of the enslaved people there didn't know they'd been free for more than two and a half years.
But on June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read General Orders No. 3, announcing with full Union enforcement that all enslaved people were legally free, releasing more than 250,000 people who didn't know their liberated status had been deliberately withheld from them for a cruelly inordinate amount of time.
I first learned about Juneteenth in a high-school history class, and I’d often wondered since then why it’s never really been a massive national holiday. And now—despite the ongoing, pervasive racism that's finally brought it to the country’s attention—I’m thrilled it’s officially become a national holiday … and an integral part of our larger dialogue about race.
The national-holiday designation came quickly and largely unexpectedly in 2021—especially given what little awareness Juneteenth had up until then—so federal agencies and even private companies didn't have a lot of time to plan and coordinate procedures for proper celebrations and shut-downs that first year.
But many found a way, and they've continued to close their doors and encourage their employees to take the day off to celebrate the milestone … the freedoms … the progress … and the hope for continued communion in the march toward equality in our country’s minds, our hearts and our shared American culture.
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