Friday, June 19 marks the fifth year of Juneteenth's celebration as a federally recognized holiday in the United States. On June 19, 1865, the last enslaved African Americans in the country, who were living in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom from slavery two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth was signed into law as a national holiday on June 17, 2021 by President Joe Biden.