What is Juneteenth? What's the History?

Tomorrow, June 19th is also known as "Juneteenth." It celebrates the emancipation (freeing) of slaves
in Texas on June 19, 1865. The holiday more broadly commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.
  Pres. Lincoln abolished slavery in the U.S. on January 1, 1863.,but Texas didn't acknowledge it until 2 plus years later. 
Thanks to dictionary dot com, here's a look at the history of the day.


WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF JUNETEENTH?

On June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, Union soldiers proclaimed that the Civil War had ended (after General Lee’s surrender and the North won). They also announced that anyone enslaved was now emancipated and slavery was abolished.  On that day in 1865 Union Major-General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 to the people of Galveston. It stated:

"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. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

General Orders, No. 3. U.S. House, 54th Congress, 1st Session (H. Doc. 369, Part 2). “General Order Number 3,” 1896. U.S. Documents Collection. Y 1.1/2: SERIAL 3437

This was two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in Confederate states, which included Texas. June 19 is historical, and has since been celebrated as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, because it was the day the last of the slaves became aware of their freedom.

But, why the terrible two-year delay in giving slaves their freedom in Texas? A number of explanations have been put forth, ranging from a messenger delivering the news getting shot to, far more cruelly, the news being deliberately withheld so slave owners could get one more cotton harvest. The likely story is that there weren’t that many Union troops in Texas to enforce Lincoln’s proclamation.

What did some newly freed Black Americans do after June 19, 1865? A lot of them moved North, because the North represented freedom and opportunity, as well as because many of their owners weren’t fully granting them their freedom.

The following year, they celebrated this date, and their descendants continued to celebrate it. The term Juneteenth is a blend of the words June and nineteenth, and it is evidenced in the record by 1890 in Galveston’s Daily News.