Glad it changed, I didn't know as most are working Article: Juneteenth Is a Federal Holiday, but in Most States It’s Still Not a Day Off
Happy Juneteenth everyone! A worthwhile celebration of ending a wrong that should never have happened.
It's sort of amazing to me that this day of observation that started in Galveston, TX is now a (appropriately) federal holiday. Before 2000, only four states recognized it: Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Minnesota. End of slavery in Texas Further information: Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War on September 22, 1862, declaring that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union, all enslaved people in the Confederacy would be freed on the first day of the following year.[30] On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all enslaved people in the Confederate States of America in rebellion and not in Union hands were freed.[30][c] More isolated geographically, planters and other slaveholders had migrated into Texas from eastern states to escape the fighting, and many brought enslaved people with them, increasing by the thousands the enslaved population in the state at the end of the Civil War.[7] Although most lived in rural areas, more than 1,000 resided in Galveston or Houston by 1860, with several hundred in other large towns.[31] By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas.[7][32] Despite the surrender of Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, the western Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not surrender until June 2.[7] On the morning of June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived on the island of Galveston[33] to take command of the more than 2,000 federal troops recently landed in the department of Texas to enforce the emancipation of its enslaved population and oversee Reconstruction, nullifying all laws passed within Texas during the war by Confederate lawmakers.[33][34] The order informed all Texans that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all enslaved people were free: 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 personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.[35] Longstanding urban legend places the historic reading of General Order No. 3 at Ashton Villa; however, no extant historical evidence supports such claims.[36] Although widely believed, it is unlikely that Granger or his troops proclaimed the Ordinance by reading it aloud: it is more likely that copies of the Ordinance were posted in public places, including the Negro Church on Broadway, since renamed Reedy Chapel A.M.E. Church.[37] On June 21, 2014, the Galveston Historical Foundation and Texas Historical Commission erected a Juneteenth plaque where the Osterman Building once stood signifying the location of Major General Granger's Union Headquarters and subsequent issuance of his general orders.[38] Although this event has come to be celebrated as the end of slavery, emancipation for the remaining enslaved in two Union border states (Delaware and Kentucky), would not come until several months later, on December 6, 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified.[39][c][d] The freedom of formerly enslaved people in Texas was given state law status in a series of Texas Supreme Court decisions between 1868 and 1874.[41] Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 formally informing Texas residents that slavery had ended. General Order No. 3, June 19, 1865 Early Juneteenth celebrations Formerly enslaved people in Galveston rejoiced after General Order No. 3.[42] One year later, on June 19, 1866, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became annual commemorations of "Jubilee Day".[35] Early celebrations were used as political rallies to give voting instructions to newly freed African Americans.[43] Other independence observances occurred on January 1 or 4.[44] In some cities, Black people were barred from using public parks because of state-sponsored segregation of facilities. Across parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land to hold their celebrations.[7][35] The day was first celebrated in Austin in 1867 under the auspices of the Freedmen's Bureau, and it had been listed on a "calendar of public events" by 1872.[39] That year, Black leaders in Texas raised $1,000 for the purchase of 10 acres (4 ha) of land, today known as Houston's Emancipation Park, to celebrate Juneteenth.[45] The observation was soon drawing thousands of attendees across Texas; in Limestone County, an estimated 30,000 Black people celebrated at Booker T. Washington Park, established in 1898 for Juneteenth celebrations.[39][9] The Black community began using the word Juneteenth for Jubilee Day early in the 1890s.[32] The Current Issue, a Texas periodical, used the word as early as 1909,[46] and that year a book on San Antonio remarked, with condescension, on "June 'teenth'".[47]
Sure it's Juneteenth now, but how long till Galveston finds out about it? That's the day we should really celebrate.
Once had a dude in a line in a random U-Totem or whatever argue with me for like 10 minutes that Cinco de Mayo was the day of Mexican Independence and he was 100% sure he was right because he was Mexican. Juneteenth kind of hits for me as a national holiday like Cinco de Mayo. The "narrative" is more convoluted and Texas-specific than you'd ideally prefer for a national holiday if you were designing it from the ground up. Would prefer a more direct date with genuine national significance, but I guess sometimes reality is just messy. I'd love to see a random "man on the street" series of interviews in like NYC getting people to explain the date that they are celebrating. Will still down a margarita on Cinco de Mayo in honor of "Mexican Independence" if that's the custom to properly show respect, as the show of respect or celebration or whatever is for you, not me.
I remember those stores. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UtoteM Interesting that the first Convenience Store in the US that sold gas was in Webster, TX. Herb Ralston was an early partner. Ralston made history when he designed, built and opened the first convenience store in the United States that also offered gas. The store was located in Webster, Texas on NASA Road 1.
Used to buy my weight in Gator-Gum at the local U-Totem. 5 seconds of amazing flavor and Happy Juneteenth
Juneteenth wasn't even a big deal in Texas, even amongst black people a few years ago. Now its a national holiday. Most people not from Texas can't even tell you what its about still.
