In 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday remembered as an end to the institutional chattel slavery in Galveston, Texas(1865). Union General Gordon Granger and his troops traveled to Galveston, Texas to announce General Order No.3 on June 19th, 1865. June 19th would go on to be known and celebrated as Juneteenth. The people are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, All slaves are free. This was true in all but two states Kentucky and Delaware, those states received their freedom on December 6, 1865, when the 13th Amendment was ratified. -History Channel and Washington Post, 2021
Juneteenth has been commemorated for over 150 years throughout America and some Black Americans consider the day as their Independent Day.
The controversy over Juneteenth is that Black Americans did not request a holiday and because it was already being celebrated. May 20, 1865, is Florida Freedom Day, the day when Black Americans were freed from institutional chattel slavery. Emancipation was proclaimed in Tallahassee on May 20, 1865, eleven days after the end of the Civil War, and two years after the Proclamation first issued by President Abraham Lincoln freed those enslaved in the Southern States. Emancipation Day is traditionally celebrated on May 20, in Florida.- History Channel, 2021