Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it wasn’t until two years later that the word reached the slaves in Texas. General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865 with the intention of forcing slave owners to release their slaves, and the day has been celebrated since that time in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and other parts of the Deep South under the nickname “Juneteenth.” Observed primarily in African-American communities, Juneteenth festivities usually include parades, picnics, and baseball games. Discuss