Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States, a day more important to descendants of Africans than the Fourth of July.  (Read Frederick Douglass’ classic speech, “What is the Fourth of July to the Negro?”)  In fact, Juneteenth is also called Black Independence Day.  On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led thousands of federal troops to Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War had ended.  About 250,000 Texan slaves had no idea that their freedom had been secured by the Union, a little more than two months after the end of the Civil War.