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Today I decided to write about Juneteenth. Although I am Southern born and bred I did not know about this historical event until I was a junior in my International High School. So for your enjoyment here you are: Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19 th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger , landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free . Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863 . The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order . However, with the surrender of