“Happy Juneteenth!”

In the first few minutes of an October episode of FX’s “Atlanta” last fall, many audiences were introduced to Juneteenth. And if you were confused as to what the hell Monique, Craig and everyone else in their house were celebrating with slave ship decorations and drinks named “plantation master poison” — then you’ve come to the right place.

Juneteenth, also referred to as Freedom Day, commemorates the abolition of slavery on June 19, 1865. Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation three years earlier — making slavery illegal by Jan. 1, 1863 — many slaves were still not free.

On that fateful June 19, Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Civil War was over (the war had actually ended over a month prior, but news traveled slowly back then).

Also Read: Find Out What Eric Trump and Donald Glover's 'Atlanta' Character Have in Common

See his speech below.

“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. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Back then, Juneteenth became a big celebration for blacks, but was often met with opposition. Public property was often barred from being used for celebratory activities, but as blacks became land owners, property was donated in honor of the landmark date.

Freedom Day celebrations declined in the 1900s because of the Great Depression and textbooks that attributed the end of slavery to the Emancipation Proclamation rather than Juneteenth. However, the Civil Rights movements in the ’50s and 60s ignited a greater interest in the holiday.

Also Read: 'Atlanta': Everything About 'The Club' Episode Was Real, Except When 'Knuck if You Buck' Came On

Nowadays, some people still celebrate Juneteenth by having festivals, cookouts, family activities or parades.

In 1979, Texas became the first state to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Kudos to Donald Glover for bringing it back to our attention again.

The Top 8 'Atlanta' Characters Ranked, Because Why Not (Photos)

From black Justin Bieber to the random guy on the bus with the Nutella sandwich, we've ranked a bunch of "Atlanta" characters simply because we could.
FX
1. Darius (Keith Stanfield)
Darius is quite possibly the strangest, most unusual character on "Atlanta." Half the time we don't know what he's talking about, but he's basically a visionary. Darius really won us over when he left Paper Boi at the club and went home to eat cereal and play video games. We want to be his best friend.
FX
2. Zan (Freddie Kuguru)
Zan is quite possibly one of our favorite people. He trolled Paper Boi on social media and then gave him for a ride in his pizza delivery car. Who does that? Zan. Zan does that.
FX
3. Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry)
Paper Boi's lyrics may not have much depth to them, but his character sure does.

On the "B.A.N." episode he says “It’s hard for me to care about this when nobody cares about me as a black, human man," noting that even though he supports tolerance for everyone, that Caitlyn Jenner isn't special. "But where’s tolerance for people like me?"

Also, he slapped a club manager with a stack of money. How can we not love him?
FX
4. Van (Zazie Beetz)
Van comes off as this uptight woman who never wants to give Earn a break, but we see there's much more to her in "Value."

She lets loose, goes out and smokes some marijuana forgetting that she has a drug test the next day.

We soon start to see Van is just a successful, independent woman who knows what she wants and we love her for that.
FX
5. Ahmad White (Emmett Hunter)
Ahmad White is probably the most elusive mystical character on the show. We're not even sure if he's a real person or not, but he had Nutella sandwiches on deck so he's winning for us.
FX
6. Alicia (Precious Bright)
Alicia is definitely bougie and a little bit of a gold digger, but who can blame her? She's just out here trying to have a good time and get hers and we're all a little jealous.
FX
7. Black Justin Bieber (Austin Crute)
Black Justin Bieber could not have been more obnoxious. At one point, a fan screams "I love you, Justin!" to which he replies "I know b----."

He apologizes at the end of the episode, but we all know it's disingenuous--just like him.
FX
8. Earn (Donald Glover)
Earn just seems stressed out all the damn time. It's for good reason though, he's flat out broke and basically homeless and he keeps messing things up with Van.

He's very intelligent, but not very fun. Sorry, Earn.
FX

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Since “Atlanta” has been so random with us, we decided to return the favor and rank an arbitrary number of its characters.

From black Justin Bieber to the random guy on the bus with the Nutella sandwich, we've ranked a bunch of "Atlanta" characters simply because we could.

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