New Delhi, June 19 -- Juneteenth (short for June Nineteenth) is a US federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It marks the day - June 19, 1865 - when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were finally informed of their freedom, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

January 1, 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved people in Confederate states to be free.

June 19, 1865 - Union General Gordon Granger arrives in Galveston, Texas, and issues General Order No. 3, officially enforcing the end of slavery in the last Confederate holdout.

June 19, 1866 - The first Juneteenth celebrations are held by freed African Americans...