Juneteenth National Independence Day, or simply Juneteenth, is a federal holiday in the United States celebrating the emancipation of African-American slaves. The holiday is also known as Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day [1].
Juneteenth became an official federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act after the Senate passed it on June 15, 2021 [2]. The holiday, however, has a much longer history as it has been celebrated on June 19 in Texas and other parts of the country since 1866 after general Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for slaves in Texas in 1965, the last state with slavery.