June 19 (UPI) -- Monday's Google Doodle celebrates Juneteenth, the U.S. federal holiday celebrating the end of the slavery of African Americans in Texas in 1865, more than two years after Black people were freed in the country under President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
Laura Freeman created the artwork, which features the faces of numerous African Americans against a backdrop with fireworks.
The Doodle also includes images of the Juneteenth flag and a dove.
"For this Doodle, I focused on two themes, celebration and freedom," Freeman said in a statement on the Google website.
"I incorporated the Juneteenth flag and Kente cloth patterns," she added. "I originally had only one woman's profile on the right side and the people at Google suggested I incorporate the additional profiles showing people of different ages and genders -- I think it was a good call."
Juneteenth was declared an official state holiday in Texas in 1980.
Forty-one years later, it became a national federal holiday, with banks and post offices closed for the day.
