Juneteenth commemorates the official end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived with his Union troops in Galveston, Texas, to tell the last American slaves they were free. While Abraham Lincoln had freed slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, the order relied on the enslavers to inform the slaves of their freedom. Many enslavers chose to ignore the law until Union soldiers arrived to enforce it.
The Juneteenth flag
The flag was created by the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, Ben Haith, in 1997. It was designed to be a symbol for all Americans to recognize freedom and African American History.
The components of the flag include a star of Texas, bursting over a new horizon of freedom, and features traditional American red, white, and blue colors.
