News What is Juneteenth? Holiday marking Emancipation Proclamation takes on extra importance in 2020 June 14, 2020June 17, 2020N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAYComments Off on What is Juneteenth? Holiday marking Emancipation Proclamation takes on extra importance in 2020 On June 19, 1865, a soldier informed Galveston, Texas, that President Abraham Lincoln two years earlier had freed enslaved people in "rebel" states.