Juneteenth is celebrated as African-American Independence Day. It commemorates the day June 19th in 1865, when Union General Granger proclaimed the slaves of Texas free. A Texas-born Tucsonan named Jimmie Walker got Tucson's "A" mountain residents interested in turning Juneteeth into a community celebration in 1970.
Read more about the history of Juneteenth in Gale U.S. History, opens a new window, an online source brought to you by Pima County Public Library.
In 2021, President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday. More information about the holiday is available at https://www.juneteenth.com/.
Sources:
Chase Calendar of Events (2001), Chicago, Ill.: Contemporary Books. c1999-. Page 330.
"Juneteenth- Celebration of emancipation," Tucson Citizen. Calendar, June 13, 1985, Page 7.
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