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June 19 (Juneteenth), the oldest black holiday in the nation, marks the anniversary of the end of slavery in Texas, the last
state in which the “peculiar institution” survived.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, but had little immediate impact in
Texas, which was firmly under Confederate control during the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, however, Union general Gordon Granger
landed in Galveston and announced emancipation, thus effectively if belatedly freeing 250,000 slaves in Texas.
Granger’s General Order No. 3 began, “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 rights and rights of property between former
masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
The first broader celebrations of Juneteenth were used as political rallies and to teach freed African Americans about their
voting rights. Within a short time, however, Juneteenth was marked by festivities throughout the state. In Austin, Juneteenth
was first celebrated in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen’s Bureau and became part of the calendar of public events
by 1872. In Limestone County, as many as 30,000 celebrants have gathered for a three-day reunion organized by the Nineteenth
of June Organization. In 1976, Houston’s Juneteenth Blues Festival began offering free concerts at the Miller Outdoor Theatre
in Hermann Park.
In 1979 Representative Al Edwards, a Democrat from Houston, introduced a bill calling for Juneteenth to become a state holiday.
The legislature passed the act, and Governor William P. Clements Jr. signed it into law. The first state-sponsored Juneteenth
celebration took place in 1980.
For more information on Juneteenth and the vibrant history of African Americans in Texas, see the following entries in the
Handbook of Texas Online:
JUNETEENTH
AFRICAN AMERICANS
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND POLITICS
AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES
SLAVERY
ABOLITION
CIVIL WAR
RECONSTRUCTION
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU
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