Slavery didn’t end on Juneteenth. There were at least three slave states that stayed in the Union, and slavery didn’t end there until the 13th Amendment took effect on December 31, 1865.
But, why let facts interfere with the racist narrative?
Actually five: Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
Another date of more importance than what happened in Texas on June 19 was the Emancipation Proclamation signed on January 1, 1863. I can think of other civil rights milestones^ more important than June 19.
* Yes, I know some were frauds.
Several months ago a poster on another board asked what would be the most appropriator things to cook for the holiday. I replied that given the holiday’s origin it should be Tex-Mex.
There were about 4 million black people in the US in 1860, about 10% of which were already free. By June 19, 1865, most of the slaves had learned of the end of the war and that they were no longer required to work for their former owners. Word got to Texas late but maybe a few hundred black people in Galveston learned about the end of the war on June 19, 1865, so to make that the grand celebration of freedom seems to be making a mountain out of a molehill.
Once Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, Southern whites appear to have recognized that the game was up (Jefferson Davis excepted). I read of a lawsuit once concerning someone in Mississippi who had learned of Lee's surrender before anyone else in that locality and went to spend his Confederate money right away. He was found guilty of fraud--the storekeeper would not have accepted the money if he had known about Lee's surrender.