Juneteeth celebrations over time – in pictures

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass asked in a famous speech in 1852: What to the American slave is your Fourth of July?' For formerly enslaved persons, Juneteenth, celebrated in the US today, was their freedom story. Today, it's commemorated by their descendants and an entire nation.

Last year, Joe Biden signed a law designating 19 June (Juneteenth, for short) as a federal holiday.

In 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved persons in the Confederates states, Union major general Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas, and delivered the news. Since then, Black Texans, including Opal Lee, called the Grandmother of Juneteenth', have commemorated the day with parades, picnics and speeches.

As Black people migrated across the country, they carried Juneteenth with them, helping to turn an event once recognized only in Black communities into a national holiday.

Here's a look at the celebrations over time.