What is Juneteenth? How June 19 became a holiday

(KRON) — Juneteenth became an official federal holiday starting in 2021 under former President Joe Biden to recognize the freedom of formerly enslaved Black people.

On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led troops into Texas to announce the end of the Civil War and slavery. Thousands of people in Texas, who were among the last to learn of their independence, were finally freed, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When the first Juneteenth celebrations took place in 1866, it was referred to as “Jubilee Day” or “Freedom Day.”

Opal Lee, who is also known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” walked in 2016 from Texas to Washington, D.C. at the age of 89 with hopes of talking to then-President Barack Obama about declaring Juneteenth as a national holiday. Lee was later honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation Thursday declaring “Juneteenth National Freedom Day: A Day of Observance” in the State of California.

Following the historic events of 1865, “Black Americans who journeyed out of the South in search of better lives brought Juneteenth celebrations with them. The thousands who settled in California, especially in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, taught our state that America’s struggle for freedom did not end in 1776 or 1865, but continues to this day,” Newsom wrote.

The governor continued, “California is proud to recognize Juneteenth. Misguided efforts to rewrite our nation’s history make our state’s commitment to confronting the dark chapters of our past all the more important, as we move forward in pursuit of a more perfect union. This Juneteenth, I urge all Californians to reflect on the ongoing cause of freedom for Black Americans – remembering that, though General Granger’s announcement in 1865 called for ‘absolute equality,’ that vision was, and remains, far from complete.”