The League of Women Voters recognizes Juneteenth as the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, and just one of several “Emancipation Days” observed by Black diasporic communities in the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and the US.

The holiday is celebrated on June 19th (thus the name, Juneteenth) because, on that date in 1865, Union soldiers announced to enslaved persons in Texas that the US Civil War had ended and that they had been freed from bondage by the Emancipation Proclamation (two years prior in 1863). Freed Black and Afro-Indigenous people from Texas brought the celebration with them when they migrated to nearby places like Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mexico and—even farther—to California, Oregon, and Washington state.

Juneteenth is a communal celebration and Delaware County will hold a celebration on Monday, June 19 from 4 to 7 PM at Rose Tree Park.  For more Delaware County event information CLICK HERE . 

TED Ed video about Juneteenth CLICK HERE .