President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.
Juneteenth's commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming and enforcing freedom of enslaved people in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.
It’s the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.
Crowds gathered and celebrated across America hosting rallies, bike ride parades and block parties.
