It was 160 years ago that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed, two years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth, a day that marks the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, is always observed on June 19 each year. It became a U.S. federal holiday in 2021, following the signing of a bill by former President Joe Biden.

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.