June 19th -- Juneteenth -- Freedom Day

News of the termination of the illegal Confederate state did not reach Texas until May of 1865.

The liberation of Texas could not begin until the Army of the Trans-Mississippi surrendered on 2 June, 1865.

By June 18, 1865, 2,000 federal troops arrived to occupy Texas on behalf of the people of the United States, establishing the Department of Texas.

The commanding Gordon Granger read aloud the contents of "General Order No. 3", announcing the total emancipation of enslaved United States citizens:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. 

Memorials for this event, now referred to as Juneteenth and Freedom day, are observed by 43 of the 50 states (Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah do not recognize it), and it is not a federal observance.

To those who do not find this a good and just thing to remember, I say

Since accident, not conspiracy or planning, dominate human history, the proximity of the shootings of Wed, June 17 to this data is probably just an accident.