WHAT IS JUNETEENTH?

Juneteenth or June 19, 1865, is celebrated as  the date when enslavement ended in America.  Although the  rumors of freedom were widespread prior to this, actual emancipation did not come until General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas and issued  General Order No. 3, on the "19th of June," almost two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.