Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. as issued by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. In 2021, it became our newest national holiday.
Source: Census Bureau
From the National Archives: The Emancipation Proclamation
“President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared ‘that all persons held as slaves’ within the rebellious states ‘are, and henceforward shall be free.’
“Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy (the Southern secessionist states) that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union (United States) military victory.
“Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of Black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.”
From The American Presidency Project, Proclamation 10598—Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2023
“On June 19, 1865—months after the Civil War ended and more than 2 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved people—Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to free 250,000 people still held in bondage. The arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his troops signaled that the Federal Government would not relent until the last enslaved people in America were free.”
Key Stats
Source: Commercial lithographer Henry S. Graham printed this choropleth map showing the distribution of the slave population in September 1861. The map shows in graphic terms the density of the slave population in the Southern states, based on figures from the 1860 census. Although the development of this map was a collaborative government effort, cartographers working for Edwin Hergesheimer, U.S. Coast Survey Drafting Division, created it.
Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century
Note: Click on the image above for higher resolution.
SOURCE: Bureau of the Census. For urban-rural figures for 1790-1940, sex and race figures for 1850-1940, and nativity figures for 1900-1940, see, Sixteenth Census Reports, Population, vol. II, part 1, pp. 18 and 19; for race figures for 1790-1840, sex figures for 1820-1840, and nativity figures for 1850-1890, see Fifteenth, Census Reports, Population, vol. II, p. 97; for slave figures for 1790-1860, see Ninth Census Reports, Population, p. 7. (See page 16, B 13-23.)
Note: The first 16 decennial censuses presented above are stored at the National Archives. The first eight counted slaves, but that classification ended after the Civil War (1861-1865).
More Stats
From Census.gov / Topics / Population / Race:
America Counts: New Population Counts for 62 Detailed Black or African American Groups (10/17/23)
From Census.gov > History:
“The Civil War of 1861-65 ended slavery (abolished legally through the 13th Amendment in 1865), and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, ended Article I’s three-fifths rule. Thus, the original census requirements were modified.”
The History and Growth of the United States prepared for the Senate Committee on the Census (1900)
Reference > Data@Museums (many honor Black or African Americans)
Reference > Maps > Distribution of Slaves in 1860
Through the Decades > Census instructions
Through the Decades > Index of Questions
Through the Decades > Questionnaires
Note: For detailed information about each census, visit Decennial Census by Decade and select any year ending in zero. There are 25 decennial censuses from 2030 back to 1790.
From the Census.gov > History > Home Page Archives:
1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (May 2024)
The 1862–1863 Vicksburg Campaign (December 2022)
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (October 2022)
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad (March 2022)
Hiram Rhodes Revels (February 2020)
The Battle of Gettysburg (July 2018)
Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement (February 2018)
The Battle of Antietam (September 2017)
Confederate Surrender at Appomattox Court House (April 2015)
Abraham Lincoln (November 2014)
From Census.gov / Library:
Publication: 1870 Census: Volume 1. The Statistics of the Population of the United States (1872)
From Census.gov / Library / America Counts:
America Counts: Stories About Race
America Counts Story: Wealth by Race of Householder (04/23/24)
America Counts Story: MLK Day: Only Federal Holiday Designated as National Day of Service (01/11/24)
From Census.gov / Newsroom:
Press release: Census Bureau Statement on Updated Race and Ethnicity Standards (03/28/24)
Director’s Blog: Valuable New Datasets on Race and Ethnicity From the U.S. Census Bureau (05/22/23)
Random Samplings Blog: Examining the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Adults and Children (05/22/23)
From Census.gov / Newsroom / Profile America: Stats for Stories and Facts for Features:
Facts for Features: National Black (African American) History Month: February 2024
Stats for Stories: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and National Day of Service: January 15, 2024
Stats for Stories: Global Diversity Awareness Month: October 2023
Stats for Stories: Minority Enterprise Development Week: October 22-28, 2023
Stats for Stories: Multiracial Heritage Week: June 7-14, 2023
From Census.gov / Statistics in Schools (SIS):
Activities > History Worksheets
Activities > History Worksheets > Antebellum Economy – Understanding Employment in 1850
Activities > History Worksheets > Missouri Compromise – Free vs. Slave States
SIS Resources > Maps > Scott’s Great Snake
From Census.gov / Partner Resources / Data Links / Black (or African American) Data Links:
Black (or African American): American Community Survey (ACS) Reports
Black (or African American): Current Population Survey (CPS) Reports
Black (or African American): Decennial Census Reports
From Census.gov / Topics / Public Sector / Voting and Registration:
Voting and Registration Publications
Voting and Registration Tables
Voting and Registration Visualizations
From Census.gov > History > Notable Alumni:
George W. Francis, Marshal, Activist, Leader [<1.0 MB]
Robert A. Pelham Jr., Newspaper Editor, Activist, Career Census Supervisor [<1.0 MB]
John Willis Menard, Newspaperman, Politician, and Census Clerk [<1.0 MB]
John Henry Smythe, Census Clerk, Lawyer, Teacher and Civil Rights Activist [<1.0 MB]
Mary Church Terrell, NAACP Founder, Activist, Census Office Clerk [<1.0 MB]
Outside Links
Congressional Research Service, Juneteenth: Fact Sheet (Updated May 30, 2023) [<1.0 MB]
History.com, What Is Juneteenth?
JUNETEENTH.com, History of Juneteenth
Library of Congress, America’s Story from America’s Library, Juneteenth Celebration
National Archives, Search: Juneteenth
PBS: The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, What Is Juneteenth?
U.S. National Park Service, Camp Nelson National Monument, Kentucky
