I have previously mentioned that the Legislature would be closed today, but I did not mention why exactly. Today is Juneteenth, a day that has been officially recognized as a national holiday since 2021 … but why?    President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, after two years of fighting the Civil War. This vital document freed the slaves, the major issue at the heart of the southern states’ desire to secede. The freeing of the slaves would effectively cripple the southern states who were largely powered and enriched by slave labor. Many of those now freed slaves would join the northern states’ Union Army in the fight, as the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately end the war. The final surrender of confederate troops would come after almost two more years on June 2, 1865 in Galveston, TX.    This location and time are extremely important to today’s “holiday,” Juneteenth. It was just a few days after that last surrender, on June 19th, that the slaves in Galveston, TX would be made aware that they had been freed. Juneteenth is to celebrate that date, when the last of the slaves were made aware of their freedom. Or at