Holidays/Juneteenth—
Today is a holiday. For decades, African Americans (descendants of enslaved people in the US) have celebrated June 19 as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, or Jubilee Day. In 2021, then-President Joe Biden signed into law legislation designating June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday.
Today, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring “Juneteenth National Freedom Day: A Day of Observance” in the State of California.
July 4 is not the only day America celebrates its independence. Each year on June 19, we look back to this day in 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger led troops into Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of the Civil War and the insidious institution of slavery. Thousands of enslaved people in Texas, among the last to learn of their independence, were finally freed, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Over the next several decades, Black Americans who journeyed out of the South in search of better lives brought Juneteenth celebrations with them. Thousands who settled in California, especially in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, taught our state that America’s struggle for freedom did not end in 1776 or 1865, but continues to this day.
There are those attempting to whitewash our country’s history, to remove and reframe the horrors of slavery. But to erase the dark, painful parts of our past is to diminish the triumphs that followed. Juneteenth epitomizes that reality; it marks a shameful history of bigotry and exploitation, yet it represents freedom and a step toward a more just, more equal world.
California is proud to recognize Juneteenth as an official state holiday, honoring the centuries of struggles and achievements that have brought us to this moment.
This Juneteenth, I urge all Californians to reflect on the ongoing cause of freedom for Black Americans – remembering that, though General Granger’s announcement in 1865 called for “absolute equality,” that vision was, and remains, far from complete. Let us celebrate how far we have come and take stock of how far we must go to truly realize our nation’s founding ideals.
NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim June 19, 2026, as “Juneteenth National Freedom Day: A Day of Observance.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 17th day of June 2026.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
ATTEST:
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State
