President
Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became effective on January 1st
1863, but it meant little to the slaves in the Confederate states. This was true for the African Americans
living in bondage in Texas. On June 18th
1865 Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with 2,000 troops
to reinstate Federal law and control.
Standing on
the balcony of Ashton Villa in Galveston on June 19th 1865, Granger
read General Order Number 3, “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.” The former slaves took to
the streets of Galveston in celebration.
The next
year on June 19th 1866 the celebration known as Juneteenth began in
Texas.
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