Celebrate Juneteenth in Saint Paul
Juneteenth Celebration at Rondo Commemorative Plaza
Image Credit: Rondo Center of Diverse Expressions
Juneteenth in Saint Paul
The History of Juneteenth
Juneteenth (short for June Nineteenth) was first celebrated on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, when General Gordon Granger—a U.S. Army Officer and Union General during the Civil War—and his troops arrived to the city to free 250,000 enslaved persons under the order of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The troops arrival to Galveston came two-and-a-half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.