Commemorating end of legal slavery of Black Americans with Juneteenth

Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans, took place Saturday in Galveston, Texas, the Gulf Coast city where Juneteenth originated.

Historians say on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Union Major General Gordon Granger and his men informed enslaved Americans they were free from slavery after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years earlier, on Jan. 1, 1863.

During Saturday’s event at the Ashton Villa, the former headquarters for the Confederate Army in Galveston, speakers praised the efforts of former State Representative Al Edwards, a Houston legislator who helped make Juneteenth a statewide holiday in 1980.

Douglas Matthews, the event’s master of ceremony and Galveston Juneteenth Celebration coordinator, laid out some history in his opening remarks.

“Freedom is a cherished word to all humanity – particularly to those in bondage. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued his promised Emancipation Proclamation. But it took 30 months for President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the enforcement thereof to reach the South. Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with 2,000 troops on June 18, 1865 – two and a half years later – to announce and enforce the freeing of Black slaves. And this was the birth of Juneteenth," Matthews said.

Alana Holloway Edwards, the daughter of the late State Rep. Edwards and a school principal, said promoting her father’s legacy is based on education and awareness of Juneteenth.

“My father, late and former State Representative Al Edwards, was majorly focused on makingJuneteenth not only a state holiday, but also a national holiday, and bringing awareness to the fact that Union Army General Gordon Granger came to Galveston to free the 250,000 slaves that were left still in Texas even two years after the Emancipation Proclamation,” Holloway Edwards said. “And so today, we celebrate here at Ashton Villa because that day is significant and everyone deserves to know the truth about the history that happened right here in Galveston in Texas.”

In June 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed and sent to President Joe Biden a bill making June 19, or "Juneteenth," a federal holiday. Biden signed the bill into law on June 17, 2021.

(with inputs from agencies)

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