Overview

• Juneteenth falls on Thursday, June 19, 2025, marking the 160th annual observance of the day enslaved African Americans in Texas learned they were free.
• On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger issued orders in Galveston enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation, leading to the first celebration a year later in 1866.
• Congress designated Juneteenth a federal holiday in June 2021 when President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
• Federal offices, the U.S. Postal Service, banks, the stock market and nonessential government agencies will be closed in observance.
• Educational programs, cookouts, festivals and Juneteenth contests will be held nationwide; the Freedmen’s Bureau has digitized its 1865–1872 archives to aid genealogical research.