Juneteenth - My First by Lance


I guess the news never made it to the history book in the northern states.  When folks started getting all silly about a rally on this day I really didnt think anything of it.  Just something else for folks to complain about.

Then, I was notified that I'd be receiving time and a half today.  Well, that got me curious so I did some research.  This is no made up holiday, no “greeting card cabal” holiday. This is the real thing. 

The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in 1863, but enforcing the law was uneven, at best. Texas was a long way from DC, and a great many were still enslaved even after the surrender of Confederate States in April of 1865. In an attempt to end the institution once and for all, Union General Gordon Granger and his men rode into Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 and read out an order enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation and declaring that all slaves in Texas were now free. His army was there to make sure of that. 

Churches in Texas have commemorated this date since 1866 and it is an official state holiday in Texas.  Its popularity spread from Texas across the south and now appears is 49 states.

This was not the end of slavery in America, however. Slavery was still legal in the border states until December 6th 1865 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was finally ratified, granting and guaranteeing full citizenship to former slaves. It would take a further century before a Civil Rights law was passed and, of course, that didn’t mean all was well. We still have a great deal of work to do. In the meantime, celebrate Juneteenth and pray for peace.

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