Emancipation Day (Texas)

Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth Independence Day, is a state holiday in the state of Texas, United States, and it is observed on June 19 each year. The holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

Although President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation issued on January 1, 1863, changed the enslaved African Americans to free, the enforcement of the Proclamation was slow and heavily relied on the advance and presence of the Union troops (the North).

As the most remote state, Texas had a low presence of Union troops, and the enforcement had been very slow. As a result, Texas was the last of the Confederate states (the South) in which enslavement continued. On June 19, 1865, two years after Lincoln's Proclamation, the Union Major General, Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the federal order of the abolition of slavery in the state.

Americans have celebrated Juneteenth as Emancipation Day to some degree in different states since June 19, 1865, and in 1980, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official state holiday. On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which made Juneteenth an official federal holiday.

The following is the list of Emancipation Day in the state of Texas, the United States from 2022 to 2026.

Please check more public holidays in Texas, United States: