On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, TX, to announce that enslaved people were now free. Since then, June 19 has evolved into the holiday known as Juneteenth.
However, it took over 100 years for Texas to officially designate Juneteenth as a state holiday, with a bill on January 1, 1980.
Many other states, including NJ and NY, have signed an executive order recognizing Juneteenth as a paid day of leave for state employees — but for years, it was still not recognized as an official, national holiday.
By 2020, many corporations like Twitter and Nike, and universities treat Juneteenth as a company holiday. Google Calendar has also added Juneteenth to its US Holidays calendar.
In pop culture, in 2017, ‘Black-ish’ aired a musical episode about Juneteenth that featured performances from The Roots and Aloe Blacc.
This was a year after the Donald Glover led show, 'Atlanta', aired an unforgettable episode about a wealthy couple hosting a Juneteenth party.
Finally, on Weds. June 16, 2021, the House & Senate passed a bill to finally recognize Juneteenth as the 12th federal holiday in the USA. President Joe Biden signed into law the next day.