Since 1866, Juneteenth has been celebrated on June 19th in the United States. It is the longest running African-American
Although Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, the end of slavery could only be enforced in states and territories under Union control. The Civil War raged two and a half more years until the surrender of the Confederacy on April 9, 1865. Two months later on June 19, 1865, Union Army general Gordon Granger reached Texas, the last holdout in the South, and proclaimed freedom for all enslaved persons. It is the anniversary of this date that is now known as Juneteenth or America’s Second Independence Day.
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