Today marks the celebration of Juneteenth, one of the oldest known celebrations that commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.

According to the Juneteenth Organization, it was June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers, led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were free.

This was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had become official on Jan. 1, 1863.

The organization claims the Emancipation Proclamation had “little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order.”

The Civil Rights movement had both positive and negative results for Juneteenth celebrations, according to the Juneteenth Organization.

“While it pulled many of the African American youth away and into the struggle for racial equality, many linked these struggles to the historical struggles of their ancestors,” according to the organization. “This was evidenced by student demonstrators involved in the Atlanta civil rights campaign int he early 1960s, who wore Juneteenth freedom buttons.”

Juneteenth received another strong push in 1968 during the Poor People’s March to Washington D.C. when Rev. Ralph Abernathy’s call for all people to show support for the poor.

It wasn’t until Jan. 1, 1980 when Juneteenth became an official state holiday through the efforts of Al Edwards, an African American state legislator, according to the Juneteenth organization.

Fast forward to today and Juneteenth celebrations have been had all across the nation.

Institutions such as the Smithsonian, Henry Ford Museum and others have sponsored Juneteenth-centered activities.

In a location such as ours, Juneteenth has such a big impact on the Civil Rights movement that happened here as well.

Let us not forget how far we have come, and look forward to continuing to move forward.