Mike MilliganFounder and CEO, 1.oak Financial · Founder and CEO, 1.oak Financial

Honoring Juneteenth: America’s Second Independence Day

19 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:00

In this brief commentary, Mike Milligan notes that Juneteenth is observed today with the closure of major U.S. financial markets, citing the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. He explains that Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but its historical roots lie in the June 19, 1865, announcement by Major General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, that the enslaved population there were now free—over two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. Milligan emphasizes this delay to frame Juneteenth as “America’s Second Independence Day.”

Chapters

First, the date itself. Today is Juneteenth. The New York Stock Exchange is closed. The NASDAQ is closed. The U.S. bond market is closed. That's per the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Markets will reopen on Monday, June 22nd. Juneteenth has been a federal holiday since 2021, but the date it commemorates is much older. On June 19th, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, 2,000 Union troops to announce that more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in that state were free. But here's the part that gets me every time I think about it. That was 2 and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863. 2 and a half years. That's why it's called America's Second Independence Day.