While Americans will enjoy the day off from work this Thursday, many are still clueless as to why.

Juneteenth will be celebrated on June 19 and commemorates the anniversary of the day enslaved people learned of the Emancipation Proclamation – two years after it went into effect.

Word was slow to travel back then especially in remote areas like Texas. While the Proclamation was issued in 1863 Texas was a long way from Union controlled areas of the country and the order was not enforced. That combined with the fact many enslavers in Texas deliberately hid the news so they could continue to exploit slave labor.

Then on June 19 in 1865 Union General Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston, Texas. Upon his arrival he issued General Order No. 3 which declared all enslaved people as free.

Early celebrations featured freed families gathering in homes, churches and parks. Back then many referred to the day as Jubilee Day or Freedom Day.

A few years later in 1872 a group of leaders from the black community in Houston raised money to purchase land they would use for public celebrations. That land became known as Emancipation Park. Which is still used for celebrations of the event today.

In 2021, 156 years after its inception, Juneteenth finally became a federal holiday.

The recognition the day finally received in this country was in a large part brought on through the efforts of a woman named Opal Lee. Opal Lee was an educator, counselor and activist who at the age of 89 walked over 1400 miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C. to advocate for the recognition of Juneteenth as a national holiday. Her work to raise awareness of the cause ultimately contributed to Juneteenth finally gaining federal holiday status.

Opal was born in Marshall, Texas in 1926. In 1939 her family’s home in Fort Worth, Texas was attacked by a mob of approximately 500 white rioters opposed to African Americans living in the neighborhood. Her father arrived home that day with a gun, but the local police warned him not to defend his home against the crowd. And if he did, they would hand him over to the mob. Their home burnt that day to the ground and they were forced to relocate. But that day, that incident instilled in her a need for reform and fueled in her a lifelong commitment to civil rights and activism.

Eighty-five years later, Lee was able to reclaim the land with the help of Trinity Habitat for Humanity. In testament of her character the land was gifted to her instead of selling it.

A wall-raising ceremony was held to celebrate the moment, and Lee’s nonprofit organization is now involved in fundraising efforts to cover the cost of construction of a new home on the property. While Lee already owns a home, the ownership of this property is more symbolic – turning a painful event of the past into a tribute to human resilience and hope.