Juneteenth is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the Civil War. Learn more about this celebration and its history with these books for all ages!

Children's Picture Books

All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson

Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens

A Flag for Juneteenth by Kim Taylor

Freedom’s Gifts: A Juneteenth Story by Valerie Wilson Wesley

Juneteenth by Van G. Garrett

Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

Juneteenth Is by Natasha Tripplett

Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford

They Built Me for Freedom: The Story of Juneteenth and Houston’s Emancipation Park by Tonya Duncan Ellis

Children's Nonfiction Books

Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem by Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

Juneteenth by Natalie Rosinsky

Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom in Texas by Anna Pearl Barrett

Juneteenth: Freedom Day by Muriel Miller Branch

Juneteenth: Our Day of Freedom by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

The Juneteenth Story: Celebrating the End of Slavery in the United States by Alliah Agostini

Opal Lee and What It Means to be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan

The Story Behind Juneteenth by Jack Reader

What is Juneteenth? by Kirsti Jewel

Adult Fiction

Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison

Adult Nonfiction

Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration by Edward Cotham

On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed

Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole Taylor