Every year on June 19th, Americans celebrate Juneteenth, a holiday that marks the day the last enslaved people in the United States finally learned they were free. It is a story of a delayed promise—a reminder that freedom doesn’t always arrive when it is declared, but only when it is enforced.
The story begins more than two years earlier. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved people in the Confederate states “forever free”. However, this was a wartime measure. In Confederate territory like Texas, where there was little Union presence, the order was largely ignored.
That changed on June 19, 1865. Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, informing the people of Texas that all slaves were free. The reaction was immediate and electric—the newly freed people celebrated with joy, marking the birth of “Juneteenth”.
Which States Freed Their Slaves Later?
It’s a common misconception that Texas was the only state to free its slaves late. In reality, while Texas was the last to receive the news, several states were slow to abolish slavery for different reasons.
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The Holdouts (Ratified the 13th Amendment): The 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery throughout the United States, was ratified on December 6, 1865. This means states like Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky didn’t officially free their slaves until this date, as they were border states not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation.
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The Gradual Approach: Many Northern states passed laws for gradual emancipation, a process that stretched for decades. For instance, Pennsylvania passed a law in 1780, but some enslaved people remained in bondage there until the 1840s or 1850s. New York began abolishing slavery in 1799, but it wasn’t until 1827 that the last enslaved person was freed.
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The First to Act: The earliest abolition occurred in the Republic of Vermont, which abolished slavery outright in its 1777 constitution.
The journey to freedom was a marathon, not a sprint. Juneteenth, now a federal holiday since 2021, honors that long-delayed moment in Texas and celebrates the resilience of those who endured the wait. It is a powerful symbol of how liberty, once declared, must be actively delivered to every corner of a nation.