Juneteenth, a combination of June and nineteen, is a holiday celebrating June 19th,1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued that they were free. Although the ratification of the 13th amendment in December later that year made slavery illegal, June 19th was when the last of the Confederate states were told of the proclamation.
On June 19, 2019, Governor Tom Wolf signed into Pennsylvania Law the Juneteenth National Day of Freedom (P.L. 34 no. 9 2019) commemorating the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. This law also recognizes the impact of slave labor on the U.S. economy and the Africans who survived the Middle Passage to bring them to the New World.
Pennsylvania became one of nine states to make Juneteenth an official state holiday by 2020.
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into U.S. law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act (P.L.117-17/2021) creating June 19 as a legal public holiday such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. This act commemorated the 156th anniversary of the historic event in Galveston, Texas.
Forever Free by 
I Freed Myself by 
Juneteenth by 
Juneteenth by 
The Long Emancipation by 
On Juneteenth by 
The Story Behind Juneteenth by 
The Story of Juneteenth by These are just a few of the books that you may discover by searching in the Power Library. Talk with the librarian at your local library on how to borrow them.
Joseph, Peniel "The Two Meanings of Juneteenth". Texas Monthly: June 2023. Accessed through the POWER Library in the Academic Search Main Edition. Accessed 6/7/2024.
Wagner, Dwayne K. "Juneteenth Freedom's Journey: (1619-2123)". Military Review. Jul/August 2023. Accessed through POWER Library
There is a section in the POWER Library titled: Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: a Selection of Primary Sources
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