Juneteenth is now an official holiday in the U.S: What is its significance, and importance? Why is it called Juneteenth?

US President Joe Biden last year declared Juneteenth a holiday and enacted it into law two days before June 19th. It is now accepted as Juneteenth day officially and people can wish each other “Happy Juneteenth”. This year (2022) June 19th falls on a Sunday so Monday, June 20 would be the compensatory day off.

Juneteenth though passed as a federal law in 2021, has its significance in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued the Order Number 3, which stated the freedom of all slaves by the issue of Emancipation Proclamation, by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The people of Galveston did not know they were free and found out after the order was issued by Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, two years after the original date of proclamation. Texas was the last state to recognize the proclamation and hence June 19th or “Juneteenth” became the official day. The law was ratified after all the states agreed to free all forms of slavery within the Union of America which was completed on June 19, 1865.

So, keeping June 19 of 1865 in mind and the events that happened that day, Juneteenth again came into prominence in 2020 when George Floyd from Minnesota and Breonna Taylor from Kentucky, both blacks, were killed due to police action. This discrimination of killing black people without judicial approval was akin to the slavery of the blacks and the crimes committed by the whites against blacks during those old times.


By enacting the Juneteenth day as law, the Biden government followed the lead of 47 states that already recognized Juneteenth as a special day and as the day of the Emancipation Proclamation. So on this day, a holiday is given to the memory of the ending of slavery in America. So from all of us here a “Happy Juneteenth” and enjoy your holiday on Monday.