Juneteenth

The MTA held its first Juneteenth celebration in 2022. Hosted by the Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee, MTA members and their families gathered to mark the holiday and reflect on the historical meaning of the event. The federal holiday marks the day when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865 — two months after the surrender of Confederate forces in the Civil War — and told Black people who had been enslaved that they were free.

Celebrating Juneteenth

Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to ensure that all enslaved people were freed. That act, two-and-a-half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, effectively marked the end of slavery in the U.S.