Today, June 19, is Juneteenth day, which celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. On Thursday, President Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday, with many federal workers to receive the day off. Juneteenth is the first national holiday established since 1983 when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was declared. The United States now recognized eleven federal holidays. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862, but it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, when all the slaves were freed. On that date, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, backed by federal troops, and released the last of the enslaved African-Americans.