In June 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day officially became a federal holiday, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19, the date that 2,000 Union troops marched into Galveston Bay, Texas in 1865 to force the release of 250,000 Black slaves in the state.

Even as freed slaves from the Confederate states celebrated Juneteenth, support for their freedom was uneven. Some border states, such as Maryland, continued to allow slavery.

So, while President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation could not eliminate slavery on its own when it took effect in 1863, when combined with the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution (abolition of slavery), the end of the Civil War, the 14^th Amendment (citizenship, due process and equal protection of law) and the 15^th Amendment (voting rights for African American men), they succeeded.

In the years since, African Americans have remembered and celebrated Juneteenth as the country’s second Independence Day, according to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, which is part of the Smithsonian.

Today, Juneteenth is recognized as a permanent paid state or legal holiday in 30 states, including Illinois.