Juneteenth, a federal holiday

• US Government has recognised Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday.
• The day commemorates the anniversary of the declaration of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in Texas, the most remort slave states, back in 1865.
• The day announced the end of both the Civil War and slavery and symbolically represents the freedom for African Americans.

Juneteenth on June 19: History and significance

• European colonists first forcibly brought enslaved Africans by ship to the British colonies that became the United States in the 1600s.
• Millions of people were legally owned there until the 13th Amendment passed in 1865.
• June 19, 1865, is seen as the day when the light of emancipation reached even the darkest of depths in the United States.