A celebration that has persisted for over a century receives its first official recognition on June 7, 1979, as the Texas Legislature passes a bill declaring Juneteenth a state holiday. The annual June 19 celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation—not the announcement itself, but the arrival of the news of the proclamation in Texas—is now officially observed in almost all 50 states.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation officially freed the enslaved peoples of the rebellious Southern states on New Year’s Day of 1863, but the order only applied to territories currently held by the Confederacy. Southerners did not recognize Lincoln’s authority, and in many cases slaveowners and whites simply withheld the news from enslaved people. The wait was especially long in Texas, where news of slavery’s demise did not arrive until two months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox ended the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and proclaimed the news to the enslaved people there.
Black History
African Americans have played a central role in shaping U.S. history. From slavery and its abolition to the Great Migration, the civil rights movement and military, scientific, cultural and political achievements, explore key moments, milestones and figures in Black History.
When Gandhi’s Salt March Rattled British Colonial Rule
In an event that would have dramatic repercussions for the people of India, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a young Indian lawyer working in South Africa, refuses to comply with racial segregation rules on a South African train and is forcibly ejected at Pietermaritzburg.
Born in India and educated in England, Gandhi traveled to South Africa in early 1893 to practice law under a one-year contract. Settling in Natal, he was subjected to racism and South African laws that restricted the rights of Indian laborers. Gandhi later recalled one such incident, where he was removed from a first-class railway compartment and thrown off a train, as his moment of truth. From thereon, he decided to fight injustice and defend his rights as an Indian and a man.
Bettmann Archive / Getty Images Published: May 29, 2024 Last Updated: May 27, 2025
On June 6, 1889, a fire ignites in a Seattle woodworking shop and sweeps through some 100 acres, destroying much of the city’s business district and waterfront. The Great Seattle Fire culminates in losses estimated at $20 million—and serves as a turning point in the city’s history.
The fire started shortly after 2:30 p.m. when a pot of heated glue at Victor Clairmont’s woodworking shop in the Pontius Building on Front Street (now First Avenue) and Madison Avenue burst into flames. The blaze raced across the floor, which was covered in the highly combustible mix of wood shavings and turpentine. The fire quickly engulfed the wood-frame building, spread to the neighboring Dietz & Mayer Liquor Store, and—now fueled by alcohol—tore in all directions.
The majestic Frye Opera House, then the most expensive building erected in the city, was in ruins within hours. In less than a day, the fire swept through the city’s downtown, consuming nearly everything along its path, including mills, warehouses, piers, and hundreds of businesses.
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony Was Arrested for Voting ‘Unlawfully’
June 6, 1872 – Pioneering feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in a presidential election at Rochester, New York. After voting rights had been granted to African American males by the 15th Amendment, she attempted to extend the same rights to women. She led a group of women that voted illegally, to test their status as citizens. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to pay $100, which she refused. Following her death in 1906 after five decades of tireless work, the Democratic and Republican parties both endorsed women’s right to vote. In August of 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was finally ratified, allowing women to vote.
A detailed microscopic image showing the spherical hantavirus with surface spikes
The Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to spread person-to-person and can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a severe, potentially fatal lung disease. US passengers from the affected vessel have been repatriated to a specialized Nebraska med facility
The CDC has issued urgent back-to-back Health Alert Network advisories warning clinicians and public health departments in all 50 states about a cluster of Andes hantavirus cases linked to a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The CDC is monitoring air travel contacts of confirmed cases across multiple states.
Officials say overall public risk remains low, but recommend immediate clinical vigilance nationwide.
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