By James Robertson/Special to HCN
On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln delievered a speech known as the Emancipation Proclamation. In this proclamation President Lincoln declared “that all persons held as slaves, are, and henceforward shall be free.” The proclamation had little impact on Texans because of the presence of minimal Union troops within the state to enforce the new Executive Order.
On June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered, Union forces, led by Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston with news of wars end and that the enslaved were free. As General Lee surrendered Texas slave masters lost influence and Union soldiers and slaves overcame the resistance against the proclamation. Several stories try and account for the two year delay but whether or not any of them hold truth the point is that African Americans were no longer bound by slavery.
Today the ancestors of these slaves celebrate June 19th as the end of slavery in Texas and across the nation and you can see why. Although the proclamation was delievered two years earlier, the slaves in Texas toiled for another two years and thus slavery had not ended in 1863 but in 1865. Continue reading “Don’t Miss Out on Juneteenth Parade, Festival”