Juneteenth: A day that set all slaves free

The Civil War started in 1861 and was considered the bloodiest and most divisive conflict in American History.

The war, which resulted in over 620 million people dying and millions more injured, pitted the Union Army against the Confederate States of America.

The main issue leading to the war was bringing an end to slavery and set all slaves free.

Through many bloody battles fought in states ranging from Vermont and Virginia in the northeast to Louisiana and Texas in the southwest as well as many states in between, the war finally ended in April 1865.

The war essentially came to an end when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Although the end of the Civil War brought freedom the slaves, the beginning of freeing slaves started on Jan. 1, 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

The proclamation said all slaves were free, but not everyone in the Confederate states recognized their freedom.

The enforcement of the end to slavery relied heavily on the advancement of Union troops and Texas was the furtherest state from their presence. As a result, the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation did not occur until two months later after the Confederacy had surrendered.

On June 2, 1865, fighting came to an end two months later when the western Confederate army surrendered to Union troops in Galveston on June 2, 1865.

A little over two weeks later with the arrival of Union Major General Gordon Granger and more than 2,000 troops on June 19 overseeing the Reconstruction and enforcing the laws calling for the end to slavery.

When the Confederate army surrendered in Galveston, it freed over 250 thousand slaves in Texas and over all with the end of the Civil War, four million enslaved individuals gained their freedom.

Although there were celebrations that first day, the first official Juneteenth celebrations were held a year later on June 19, 1866. It started in Galveston and Houston, and spread throughout the west. Juneteenth festivities have been held on June 19 ever since.

The early celebrations mainly involved family gatherings and prayer and has been recognized as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Cellibration Day, Second Independence Day and Emancipation Day, but mainly has been called Juneteenth.

In the late 1970’s, the Texas legislature declared Juneteenth as a “holiday of significance” particularly to the blacks of Texas.

Texas became the first state to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday when the Texas Legislature passed a bill in 1979. It officially became a state holiday on Jan. 1, 1980.

For the next 20 years, Texas was probably the only state to recognize Juneteenth with other states not realizing the significance of the day.

In 2000, three more states began observing the day and for the next two decades all states, with the exception of South Dakota, began officially observing the day.

On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which made the day an official federal holiday.

It was the first federal holiday approved since President Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1983 declaring Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is observed on third Monday in January.

The day is deservedly recognized and it hopefully helps bring an end of era that was a terrible mark in American History.