“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
June 19, 1865.
That’s the day when Union Major General Gordon Granger, along with 2000 troops, arrived in Galveston, TX, and announced the end of slavery.
But this was over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Of course, information traveled and filtered into the masses slower in the 1860’s. No internet, radio, TV, or automobiles. Not everyone heard.
One could blame it on that. And that would be a lie.
The system didn’t change because it wasn’t ready to change. It didn’t want to change.
It’s always the system.
We celebrate Juneteenth not because of the declaration of the end of slavery. We celebrate it because this is the day it arrived.
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