Juneteenth is the oldest celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. It was on June 19th, 1865 (two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was in effect) that the Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. It became a national holiday in 2021.

Background info about Juneteenth

From celebrating Juneteenth to the erasure of Black history: Charles M. Blow on America today (2025)

Celebrating Juneteenth from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/18/21294825/history-of-juneteenth (updated 2023)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/us/what-is-juneteenth-trnd/index.html (from 2020)

Six Black Museums joined forces to commemorate the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2022.

https://www.blkfreedom.org/