Every year on June 19, African-Americans across the country gather to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States.It was on June 19, 1865, that Union General Gordon Granger traveled to Galveston, Texas, to force the state to free its slaves, over two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The executive order, signed on Jan. 1, 1863, freed all slaves in the southern United States. According to Juneteenth.com, Texas was one of the last states to follow the order due to a low number of Union troops in the area to enforce it.Gen. Granger read the famed General Order No. 3, which stated, “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.”As freed slaves began to leave Texas, they took their celebrations of the day to other regions of the south. Cookouts, dancing and prayer services are just some of the celebrations taking place Tuesday. Some have even pushed for Juneteenth to be recognized as a national holiday. In 1980, Texas became the first state to officially recognize the day as a holiday, calling it "Emancipation Day."