Every year on June 19, the United States marks Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery. On this day in 1865—two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued—Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that over 250,000 enslaved people were finally free. Texas was the last Confederate state to enforce freedom, making Juneteenth a powerful symbol of delayed justice and ultimate liberation.
Happy Juneteenth!
Today in History
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An opulent backdrop for a historic event
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Fall for birding
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Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona
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Ruins of St. Dwynwens Church, Ynys Llanddwyn, Wales
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Veterans Day
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Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada
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American bison
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Día de los Muertos celebrations in Mexico
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Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act of 1973
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Agüero, Huesca province, Spain
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Formal garden at Château de Villandry, Loire Valley, France
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An ice cap-puccino
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Rapa Valley in Sarek National Park, Sweden
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Exploring the Pearl of the Atlantic
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World Sea Turtle Day
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Who s there? The largest owl in the world
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Polar bears
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Snow aglow in central Japan
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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Cannes, France, in the spotlight
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It s Coffee Day
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Greater flamingos, Lüderitz, Namibia
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Star Wars Day
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Venice s grand regatta
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World Rhinoceros Day
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In the Most Serene Republic
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Tremola Road on the Saint Gotthard Pass in Airolo, Switzerland
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Here’s looking at you, teachers
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A day for the dolphins
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Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch on the institution s 175th anniversary
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