Juneteenth is one of the oldest commemorations of the end of slavery in the United States. It marks June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation at the end of the Civil War. Within the National Park Service, Juneteenth helps connect this history to places and stories preserved across the National Park System that interpret emancipation, Reconstruction, and the broader struggle for civil rights. Image 1: The African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Image 2: Red roses along the porches of the Jean Baptiste Vallé House and Green Tree Tavern at Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park represent those who were once enslaved here. Image 3: Looking out over Stewart’s Canal on the historic eastern Maryland landscape where Harriet Tubman emancipated herself and members of her family near today’s Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park. Image 4: Reconstru...