Juneteenth
As an ASVAB tutor, I see the importance of recognizing American holidays, both federal holidays and military holidays and observances. Today, June 19, is a new federal holiday known as Juneteenth. It is the day that we commemorate the effective end of slavery in the United States that occurred on June 19, 1865. On this day in history, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were set free. This happened over two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, declaring slaves free, but this did not end slavery. This declaration freed slaves in the Confederacy that Lincoln did not control so he could not enforce the rule.
In December of 1865, the 13th Amendment was adopted which formally abolished slavery.
Juneteenth became an American federal holiday on June 17, 2021 and commemorates the end to slavery in the United States.
