Why Juneteenth is a holiday for ALL Americans to celebrate

America today celebrates Juneteenth, a commemoration both of the horrors of the nation’s original sin, slavery, and of its end.

The holiday traces to victorious Union Gen. Gordon Granger’s June 19, 1865 order putting the Emancipation Proclamation (issued in January 1863) into full legal effect across Texas and freeing all the state’s remaining slaves.

The celebration has since spread, especially in the South, culminating in federal recognition in 2021 by President Biden