Also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, Juneteenth falls annually on June 19, the date in 1865 when Union troops brought the news to enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, that they had been freed.

Five years ago, the nation recognized the first Juneteenth. It marks the day in 1965 when Union soldiers went to Galveston, Texas and told enslaved people they were free. It happened two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

One local city is finally starting their own Juneteenth celebrations. Juneteenth began all the way back on June 19, 1865, when a group of Galveston, Texas slaves finally learned of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.