This year marks the third time Juneteenth will be observed nationwide as a federal holiday.  A commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, Juneteenth is also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and its roots date back more than 150 years.

The origins of Juneteenth stem from an important date after the Civil War — June 19, 1865 — when the Union General Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform the country’s last enslaved people that they had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation. Even though the proclamation had passed years before, that day in 1865 is remembered as the effective conclusion to centuries of slavery in America.

Since it is a federal holiday, banks and post offices will be closed – however some governmental offices, including Chattooga County governmental offices, will remain open.