NPR

Slavery Didn't End On Juneteenth. Here's What You Should Know About This Important Day

June 19, 1865, marked a huge turning point for black people in America.
Emancipation Day celebration in Richmond, Va., 1905

It goes by many names. Whether you call it Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or the country's second Independence Day, Juneteenth is one of the most important anniversaries in our nation's history.

On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, who had fought for the Union, led a force of soldiers to Galveston, Texas, to deliver a very important message: the war was finally over, the Union had won, and it now had the manpower to enforce the end of slavery. The announcement came two months after the effective conclusion

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