Cities around the country observed the 145th anniversary of Juneteenth Saturday. The observance originated in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger read aloud the Texas Emancipation Proclamation declaring an end to slavery. President Lincoln had signed his Emancipation Proclamation nearly two-and-a-half years prior but the news was slow to reach slaves in Texas and other Confederate states.
