New Rockford Transcript - Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

Better known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. On June 19, 1865, 156 years ago, Union soldiers landed in Galveston to bring the news of freedom to slaves. The news came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by then President Abraham Lincoln. President Biden signed a bill on Thursday, June 17, declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday. The last time a new federal holiday was added was in 1983, when Congress passed the King Day Bill. The bill went into effect in 1986, which observes the third Monday in January as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.