Today is Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday in the U.S. that commemorates June 19, 1865, the day on which the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation was ordered in Texas at the end of the American civil war. Juneteenth marks the official end of slavery in the U.S.

“Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.” – NMAAHC

To learn more about the legacy of Juneteenth, I recommend you check out the National Museum of African American History & Culture.