Juneteenth, also known as "Emancipation Day" or "Freedom Day", is both somber and celebratory day to commemorate the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States.

After the Union Army captured New Orleans in 1862, slave owners in Confederate states migrated to Texas with more than 150,000 enslaved Black persons.  For 3 years, even after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved Black Americans in Texas remained in brutal bondage, immorally and illegally deprived of their freedom and basic dignity.  On June 19, 1865 — over 2 years after President Lincoln declared all enslaved persons free — Major General Gordon Granger and Union Army troops marched to Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free the last enslaved Black Americans in Texas. 

A Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2022 | The White House