2025 Juneteenth Celebrations
Juneteenth gives all North Carolinians an opportunity to celebrate freedom.
In 2020, Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed Juneteenth in North Carolina, the oldest known celebration honoring the end of enslavement in the United States.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed a law declaring Juneteenth a national holiday. Read more >>
Juneteenth, which has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas. That was two months after the Confederacy had surrendered and about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states.
Juneteenth, or June 19, is the 12th federal holiday, and the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983. The formal name is Juneteenth National Independence Day.
For more information on the history of Juneteenth, see Why Celebrate Juneteenth?
