Juneteenth: America's Newest Federal Holiday Explained

Juneteenth is a time to celebrate across the United States, and figures like Kendrick Lamar have hosted events in commemoration of the holiday.

However, its roots lie in the country's history of slavery and oppression of African-Americans throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

To mark this special day, we're diving into the events that led up to the founding of the United States' newest federal holiday, before looking at one of the largest cultural events ever associated with the occasion.

Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the ongoing state of the Civil War in the U.S. at the time meant the Proclamation was not immediately recognized across the South.

Union General Gordon Granger arrived with his troops in Galveston, Texas, several weeks after the end of the war in 1865, and issued General Order No. 3 to let Texans know that enslaved people had officially been freed.

The first public celebrations of Juneteenth were held in various locations across Texas in 1866.

Further events began being held in cities with large African-American populations in the following years, and the tradition spread throughout the United States as former Texas citizens moved across the country.

Former President Joe Biden designated Juneteenth as a federal holiday not long after Congress passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act of 2021.

2025 marks the first time that Juneteenth will be celebrated under the administration of Donald Trump, who has banned various DEI initiatives over the past year.

Mail won't be delivered and banks will be closed ... same for the New York Stock Exchange.

Events commemorating the special occasion will be held in cities including Philadelphia, Atlanta and New York City, among others.

The holiday is typically celebrated with large-scale parades, public demonstrations, outdoor concerts and cookouts.

The special occasion often draws tributes from various public figures -- with the Obamas, Kerry Washington, and Tyler Perry having posted about the annual event over the past few years

The holiday has also become an opportunity for artists to bring their fans together for large-scale events and celebrations.

Lamar hosted The Pop Out: Ken & Friends on Juneteenth in 2024, which marked the first time he performed live in Southern California since the start of his beef with Drake. The performers began feuding in March last year, and they went song-for-song with diss tracks over a period of several weeks.

The Pop Out event, held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, ran for over three hours and featured numerous guest appearances by artists like Dr. Dre, Tyler, The Creator, and Ty Dolla $ign.

Lamar also reunited with his Black Hippy bandmates Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and Jay Rock during the concert, which was attended by 16,000 fans.

Several athletes were in attendance at the concert, including Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and former Toronto Raptors player DeMar DeRozan -- who was also involved in a beef with Drake after he appeared in the music video for Lamar's hit track "Not Like Us."

Lamar went on to perform "Not Like Us" a total of five times before the concert concluded.