On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, enslaved people in the area were told something that would change their lives, and those of their descendants, forever: They were free. According to PBS , the news came two-and-a-half years late — slaveowners in Texas did everything they could to stop enslaved people from learning that then-President Abraham Lincoln awarded them their freedom in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. A year after learning of their emancipation, Black Texans gathered for a Fourth of July-inspired celebration, and with that, Juneteenth was born.