The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law by former President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021, making it a federal holiday celebrated annually on June 19.

Juneteenth is not as familiar to many Americans as holidays such as Independence Day, Labor Day, or Memorial Day. According to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, June 19, 1865, was a significant day for more than a quarter million African Americans living in Texas at the time. Though the date marked nearly two years since President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America, Union troops did not arrive in Galveston Bay, Texas, with news of that freedom until June 1865. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger advised slaves they had been emancipated and would now be classified as laborer to their employers.

President Lincoln did not live to hear the news that the message, due to his assassination on April 15, 1865. Equally notable is the day General Granger delivered the news to Texas was more than two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Though it took until 2021 for Juneteenth to gain formal recognition as a federal holiday, which means non-essential U.S. federal government offices are closed (many other institutions, including banks, schools and financial markets, also close as a courtesy), History.com notes the day is considered the longest-running African American holiday. And while many celebrations immediately broke out upon General Granger’s delivery of President Lincoln’s proclamation, some slave holders in Texas withheld the information until the harvest season was completed.

This year, Juneteenth in Buffalo will be celebrated on June 14 and 15. Learn more at https://www.buffalojuneteenth.com.