Originally celebrated by newly freed Black communities in Texas with religious services, barbecues and symbolic traditions like discarding clothing worn during enslavement, the holiday has since grown beyond Texas and the South.

Yes, Juneteenth is a state holiday in Missouri and is observed every 19th day of June. As such, all state offices are closed on that day, unless it falls on the weekend, in which case offices will be closed either the preceding Friday or following Monday.

A federal and Massachusetts state holiday, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. The holiday is celebrated on the date when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 and announced that all enslaved people were free.