Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. It is also often observed as a celebration African-American culture.  

On June 19, 1865, about two months after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Va., Gordon Granger, a Union general, arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. General Granger’s announcement put into effect the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued more than two and a half years earlier, on Jan. 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln. 

It wasn’t until last year that Juneteenth began being recognized as a federal holiday, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021. Juneteenth's commemoration is on the anniversary of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery. 

Please take a moment to watch this educational video “I AM THE HOPE AND THE DREAM” brought to you by Connect Ferndale featuring some of our students, parents, and neighbors.