This Monday, Americans should recognize their newest federal holiday, Juneteenth, as more than just another three-day weekend.
Also known as Emancipation Day, the name blends “June” and “nineteenth” — the date in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced General Order No. 3, declaring freedom for those in bondage in the last Confederate state with institutional slavery. While pockets of slavery would persist elsewhere, the moment gave rise to what became the oldest African American holiday, with celebrations held as early as 1866.