Today in History, June 19th
On June 19, 1865, Gen. Gordon Granger announced freedom for enslaved Texans, the first Juneteenth. Plus Maximilian's execution.
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June 19 is best known for 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger announced in Galveston that all enslaved people in Texas were free, the moment now celebrated as Juneteenth. The date also saw the execution of Mexico’s emperor Maximilian in 1867 and the U.S. Navy’s lopsided win in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944.
The big story: Freedom announced in Texas, the first Juneteenth (1865)
Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, but a proclamation only means something where someone can enforce it. In Texas, Union troops were too thin on the ground to do that, and slavery carried on for another two and a half years. That changed on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with Union soldiers and read General Order No. 3. It informed the people of Texas that, under an executive proclamation of the United States, all enslaved people were free, and it advised the newly freed to stay and work for wages. About 250,000 people in Texas were affected. Celebrations of the day began in Texas the next year and spread across the country over time. The 13th Amendment later made the end of slavery official nationwide, and on June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the law making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
More events on June 19
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1846 | Alexander Cartwright organized a game in Hoboken, New Jersey, between the New York Knickerbockers and the New York Nine, the first played under rules close to modern baseball’s. |
| 1856 | The Republican Party’s first national convention ended in Philadelphia after nominating explorer John C. Frémont for president. |
| 1864 | The USS Kearsarge sank the CSS Alabama, the Confederacy’s most feared commerce raider, in a battle off the coast of France. |
| 1867 | Maximilian, the Austrian archduke whom Napoleon III had installed as emperor of Mexico, was executed by firing squad on the orders of President Benito Juárez. |
| 1905 | Harry Davis opened a nickelodeon theater in Pittsburgh, and about 450 people came on the first day. Many historians call it the birthplace of the nickelodeon. |
| 1910 | The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington. |
| 1944 | U.S. forces began the Battle of the Philippine Sea, nicknamed the “Marianas Turkey Shoot,” which wrecked much of Japan’s carrier air power. |
| 1953 | Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed at Sing Sing Prison, the first American civilians put to death for espionage. |
| 1961 | Britain recognized Kuwait’s independence. |
| 1968 | More than 50,000 people rallied at the Lincoln Memorial on “Solidarity Day,” the high point of the anti-poverty protest camp known as Resurrection City. |
| 2006 | The prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland laid the first stone of the Global Seed Vault on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. |
| 2014 | Felipe VI became king of Spain after his father, Juan Carlos I, abdicated, ending a reign of nearly 40 years. |
Born on June 19
- 1903: Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees first baseman known as the “Iron Horse,” born in New York City.
- 1945: Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, born in Rangoon, Burma.
- 1947: Salman Rushdie, Indian-born novelist, born in Bombay (now Mumbai).
Sources
- Abolition of slavery announced in Texas on “Juneteenth”, History.com
- This Day in History: June 19, History.com
- On This Day: June 19, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Lou Gehrig, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Aung San Suu Kyi, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Salman Rushdie, Encyclopaedia Britannica
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