Juneteenth is a celebration in honor of the day the last slaves were freed
by the Emancipation Proclamation, June 19, 1865. June 19th has since become a
resounding celebration throughout the south, and all over America, in the
African American Community. The Juneteenth celebrations happen in unison
across the nation. Celebrations are taking place in Galveston, Texas;
Bogalusa, Louisiana; Oakland, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Denver,
Colorado; Kansas City, Kansas; and Lorain, Ohio, with the original birthplace
being Galveston, Texas. Today Juneteenth is a celebration oil African American
freedom and culture. A more detailed history of Juneteenth follows...
Galveston
Texas was a pirate port until 1821. By the end of the Civil War, in April
1865, it had boomed into the largest city in Texas. As the population of the
interior of the United States began to explode, traders came to Galveston from
every comer of the world and got rich dealing in slaves, cotton, immigrants,
and various other forms of commerce.
There were around 200,000 slaves in Texas when the Civil war started,
concentrated in the plantations along the coastal plain. Many thousands came
through Galveston, sold at auction on the city's streets. After a fierce land
and sea battle, Galveston was occupied by Union forces near the end of the
Civil War. Texans were among the last in-the country to be affected by the
Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. In the confusion and turmoil, of the war
drawing to a close, the people of Texas did not immediately learn of Robert E.
Lee's April 1865 surrender to Grant in Virginia. Texans fought on through May,
until they finally learned that the war had truly ended.
Major General Gordon Granger of the Union army landed at the port of
Galveston with 1,800 soldiers to take command of the Military District of
Texas. His first action after landing, on June 19, 1865, was to go from his
headquarters in the Osterman Building at the comer of Strand and 22nd, down to
the street and read General Order #3 to the people of Galveston: "The people
of Texas are informed ... all slaves are free. This involves an absolute
equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and
slaves..."
Those words caused tremendous changes in the state. At the end of the war a
third of Texans were slaves, a large majority in some areas. As the stunning
news from Galveston reached them, on June 19th, Juneteenth becarne the symbol
of their freedom. There was no doubt the day would be a holiday for the freed
slaves in 1866. The tradition remained strong well into the 20th century,
honored like the Fourth of July with prayer services, inspirational speeches,
reading of the emancipation proclamation, stories from former slaves, picnics,
games, rodeos and dances.
In many parts of Texas, African Americans purchased land for "emancipation
grounds," public places where they could hold their Juneteenth gatherings.
Some remain, such as Houston's Emancipation Park, purchased in 1872; what is
now Booker T. Washington Park in Mexia; and Emancipation Park in Austin. Over
the years, celebration of June 19th as a day of freedom traveled with
African-American Texans to Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, and eventually
to Alabama, Florida, and California.
During World War II observance of the holiday declined, revived in the
early 1950's, but declined again in the turbulence of the late '50's and the
1960's. In the 1970's, Juneteenth revived yet again. In Houston, the annual
Juneteenth Blues Festival began in 1976. The Texas legislature declared June I
9th "Emancipation Day in Texas," a legal state holiday effective January 1,
1980.
Today, the celebration of Juneteenth continues across the nation with
parades, family gatherings, picnics and music.
The above preliminary drawing was done by the first American illustrator
Felix Octavius Carr Darley at the conclusion of the Civil War.
Links to other Juneteenth Activities
Juneteenth Web Site
Juneteenth
at About.com
Check out Juneteenth information at
Africana.com (type into search box)
Juneteenth at The Black America World Today web site
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