The Juneteenth Collection

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Black Independence Day, and Cel-Liberation Day, is an American holiday celebrated on June 19.

On June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation— which had been issued on January 1, 1863— was read to enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas by Gordon Granger.

Texas was the most remote of the slave states, and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, was not enforced there until after the Civil War had ended.

The name of the observance is a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth", the date of its celebration.