In what is now known as Juneteenth, on June 19, 1865, Union
soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil
War is over and slavery in the United States is abolished.

A mix of June and 19th, Juneteenth has become a day to
commemorate the end of slavery in America.

Despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued more than two years earlier on January
1, 1863, a lack of Union troops in the rebel state of Texas made
the order difficult to enforce.

Some historians blame the lapse in time on poor communication
in that era, while others believe Texan slave-owners purposely
withheld the information.

Abraham Lincoln 
(February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)