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Juneteenth Day 1968-Present
Is a celebration that takes place on June 19th in many cities across the US celebrating liberation and the actual end of Slavery. Milwaukee has the longest running and one of the largest Juneteenth day's in the nation. The origin of the celebration comes from June 19, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, TX to notify those that the Civil war had ended two months prior. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which is considered the end of slavery. The truth is that on June 19th the remaining hundreds of thousands of blacks that were still enslaved became free on this day. Currently Texas is the only state that recognizes Juneteenth as an official Holiday where state employees are off work. My hope is that at some point the entire country will do so.