Juneteenth 2025: What to know about the federal holiday
This year, the holiday falls on a Thursday.
Here's all you need to know about the approaching celebration:
Juneteenth was signed into law as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, by former President Biden. He was surrounded by civil rights activists including Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Opal Lee.
Opal Lee is known as the 'Grandmother of Juneteenth,' after walking 2.5 miles each year to symbolize the two and a half years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas.
In 2016, at age 89, she walked from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., hoping to convince former President Obama to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. Five years later, Biden completed the task and awarded Opal Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her advocacy work.
The first Juneteenth celebration took place in 1866, one year after Granger's order. Some referenced the holiday as 'Jubilee Day' or 'Freedom Day' and gathered in homes, parks and communities to celebrate.
The holiday was first listed on the calendar of public events in 1872 with the help of the government's Freedmen's Bureau agency for newly freed Black people.
Later that year, a group of Black organizers in Texas pooled together $1,000 for the purchase of 10 acres now known as Houston's Emancipation Park, where Juneteenth celebrations are hosted to date.
The Freedmen's Bureau recently digitized its search portal for archives from 1865-1872 to allow family historians and genealogists to research the history of their ancestors in the United States.
On Juneteenth, the U.S. Postal Service, banks and the stock market will be closed.
Nonessential government employees will also be granted the day off from work.
Many people use the Juneteenth holiday as a time to reflect on the country's past. Cities and states across the country typically host educational programming to inform individuals of the 250,000 Blacks who gained their freedom in honor of the holiday.
Celebrations may include readings of former president Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, cook outs, festivals and Miss Juneteenth contests across the country.
Some may also sing the Black national anthem, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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an hour ago
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