Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on June 19, 2020 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.

As an organization, we are committed to cultivating belonging, dignity, justice, and joy for all. Today we honor Juneteenth, the celebration of the belated liberation of enslaved Africans in the U.S. While the move to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday is a first step to awareness, we acknowledge that it is a very small victory overall, and there is still so much to do. We encourage you all to take the day to rest, recharge, reflect, and recommit to the work that is still left, as we at Lulus are doing today.

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Chances are you’ve heard more about Juneteenth lately than ever, whether you’ve always celebrated the holiday or never heard the term before. The June 19th celebration commemorates an important date in history that we should all be familiar with: the day slavery ended as a practice in the U.S. More specifically, the day Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the last enslaved people in Texas. Freedom for all? Well, that’s certainly something to celebrate. We turned to Juneteenth.com and The National Museum African American History and Culture to find out more about this historic day–here are six Juneteenth facts we learned.

1. Juneteenth is the oldest national commemoration of the ending of slavery in the US.

Though President Lincoln had delivered his Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years prior, there were minimal Union troops in Texas to enforce the new Executive Order. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger led Union troops into Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War was over and deliver the now-famous order Number 3, letting the last of the enslaved people know they were free. Order No. 3 declared, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”

2. The holiday’s name, as you may have guessed, is a blend of June and Nineteenth.

It’s also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Black Independence Day.

3. June 19 was technically the day Order No. 3 was dispatched, but that didn’t mean instant freedom for Texas’s nearly 250,000 enslaved people.

Many plantation owners/enslavers delayed announcing the news or waited for government agents until after the harvest, and many enslaved people who acted on the news faced deadly consequences.

4. The first Juneteenth celebration took place in Texas.

Freed Texans started celebrating Juneteenth in 1866, holding events like parades, cookouts, prayer gatherings, musical performances, and historical/cultural readings. Communities all over now have their own unique traditions.

5. Red drinks are a Juneteenth tradition.

The color symbolizes resilience and Juneteenth celebrations have often featured fare like red lemonade, Kool-Aid, and strawberry soda.

6. June 19 is now officially a federal holiday.

On June 17, 2021, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed,  establishing June 19th as a federal holiday.

In honor of Juneteenth, we are taking time to reflect and learn. This year we will be giving our teams the day off and going forward, Lulus will be observing Juneteenth as a company holiday. To learn more, visit Juneteenth.com and The National Museum African American History and Culture. 

How are you observing Juneteenth? Tell us in the comments!

This post was originally published in 2020 and has been updated with new content.