UC Press Blog

This week, President Biden signed a bill to make Juneteenth an official federal holiday. The date commemorates the anniversary of Union army general Gordon Granger's arrival in Texas to proclaim the end of slavery of the Civil War - over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Known also as E

For Juneteenth—today's holiday commemorating Union army general Gordon Granger's reading of federal orders in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1865, proclaiming that Texan slaves were free (in light of the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation had declared all slaves free two years prior)— UC Press