Explainer: With US Prez Joe Biden declaring 19 June a federal holiday, understanding the significance of Juneteenth
The vast majority of states recognise Juneteenth as a holiday or a day of recognition, like Flag Day, and most states hold celebrations. This year on 17 June, United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris signed a bill into law declaring 19 June as a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of the Black Americans and the end of slavery in the US. The day, known popularly as Juneteenth, will be the twelfth legal public holiday recognised by the federal government, and the first new one to come into effect since former president Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King Jr Day into law in 1983. While the rest of the world might find it new, Juneteenth celebrations have been around for a long time and its origins date back to 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when a union general named Gordon Granger along with around 2,000 troops arrived at the coastal town and read to more than 2,50,000 enslaved African-Americans the General Order No 3 which officially ended slavery in the US.
Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. Many Americans still get the history wrong
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