In honor of Juneteenth, NJCDC and NJ4S offices will be closed.

“Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as Juneteenth, a time to celebrate, gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future.” - The National Museum of African American History and Culture