In observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day, the Odd Dog office will be closed on Friday, June 19, 2026. Now in its fifth year as a federal holiday, Juneteenth continues to grow as a celebrated day in the American calendar, and a reminder that the work of freedom is worth honoring year after year.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF JUNETEENTH
Juneteenth commemorates the day the news of emancipation reached the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law in 1863, granting legal freedom to enslaved people in the Confederate States, enslaved people in the Confederacy were not promptly freed. The Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately take effect in places still under Confederate control.
It wasn’t until June 19, 1865, that Union Major General Gordon Grander proclaimed the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas, the western-most Confederate state. Juneteenth commemorates the day the last enslaved people heard of their freedom.
QUICK FACTS
- The Emancipation Proclamation only granted freedom to enslaved people in the Confederacy, and it wasn’t until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865 that all enslaved people were granted freedom throughout the Union.
- The name Juneteenth is a blend of the words June & Nineteenth.
- The holiday is also known as Emancipation Day.
- It wasn’t until 1980 that Texas became the first state to commemorate Juneteenth as a state holiday.
- On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed Juneteenth into law as the 11th U.S. federal holiday; the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983.
RESOURCES
Want to learn more about Juneteenth? The Odd Dog team has compiled a list of relevant articles, events, movies, podcasts, and organizations for your consideration.
READ
The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth & 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is Passed & more from the National Museum of African American History & Culture
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, which the Odd Dog team read for its first official book club as part of Black History Month celebration
Explore Reading Lists From:
- The National Museum of African American History & Culture
- Penguin Random House
- Harvard University Press
ATTEND
Juneteenth Events Happening in Seattle, WA
WATCH
LISTEN
The Daily: The History and Meaning of Juneteenth
The Takeaway: 153 Years of Juneteenth
Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi: the Juneteenth Mixtape
DONATE
