From parades to pageants, here's how America has celebrated Juneteenth over the decades

Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1866.Bastiaan Slabbers/Getty

• Celebrations for Juneteenth began in 1866 as a way to commemorate the end of slavery.
• Over the years, more and more US states have recognized Juneteenth; in 2021, it became a federal holiday.

Juneteenth has long been a celebration of Black emancipation, community, and joy.

On June 19, 1865, a Union Army general declared that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were free by executive decree. Most enslaved people in Texas were unaware that they had been freed two years prior with President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

The first celebrations for Juneteenth — a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth" — took place one year later in 1866 in Texas, ranging from parades and parties to concerts and cookouts. Juneteenth first became a state holiday in Texas in 1980, and other states began to follow suit soon after. On June 2021, it became a federal holiday.

Juneteenth celebrations have evolved and expanded over the decades, including an all-Black rodeo and a 51-mile bike ride along the Emancipation Trail from Galveston to Houston.

Long-held traditions and throughlines also persist, from the centrality of music and dance, to re-enactments that commemorate Black history.

Photographs of Juneteenth celebrations over the past century capture a visual history of its roots and breadth: