Category Archives: Texana

“On this day in 1865, Union general Gordon Granger read the Emancipation
Proclamation (originally issued by [Republican President] Abraham Lincoln in 1863) in Galveston, thus belatedly bringing about the freeing of 250,000 slaves in Texas.

“The event, now celebrated as ‘Juneteenth,’ eventually gave rise to
an annual day of thanksgiving ceremonies, public entertainment, picnics,
and family reunions. Some communities have set aside land, known as
Emancipation Parks, for celebrations on Juneteenth.

“In 1979  Governor William P. Clements [the first Republican governor since Reconstruction] signed an act making the day a state holiday. The first state-sponsored Juneteenth celebration took place the next year.”

It’s worth adding that Lincoln didn’t have the power to free the slaves. That required legislation and, eventually, a Constitutional amendment. But the South’s defeat in the war made the legalities moot and slavery  ended with the collapse of the Confederacy and the surrender of its armies.