On this day in 1865 — two months after the end of the Civil War and President Lincoln's assassination, and two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation — an Army Major General steps onto a balcony at Ashton Villa — the former headquarters of the Confederate Army of Texas in Galveston, a prosperous port city built on cotton, sugar, and the labor of enslaved people. He reads General Order No. 3: "The people of Texas are informed that all slaves are free."

Some enslavers withhold the news until after the harvest, but by then, over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas learn they are free. The news spreads across the South.

Various days of Emancipation will be celebrated annually across the U.S..

156 years later, in 2021, this day, “Juneteenth” is made an official national holiday.