According to Juneteenth.com, this is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19 that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on Jan. 1, 1863.
Click through for some local events planned to celebrate Juneteenth 2013:
