Galveston, Texas, is known as an island vacation paradise, and it is.
But it is also the birthplace of Juneteenth.
At the southwest corner of 22nd and Strand, Gen. Gordon Granger set up his Union headquarters. Texas was the last southern state to hear from Union soldiers and officials that Emancipation had been granted to enslaved people after the Civil War.
June 19, 1865, the Union general posted a brief order that included the words: "All slaves are free," declaring 250,000 enslaved Blacks in Texas free.
It was in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation that legally freed three and a half million enslaved people in Confederate states. Texas was the last stop for Union troops who had been marching across the Confederate South and freeing enslaved people as they went.
Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas in 1980, and several other states followed suit. In 2021, it became a federal holiday.
Overlooking the parking lot where Union Headquarters once stood is a mural depicting Juneteenth history.
Houston artist Reginald C. Adams led a six-person team to paint the mural, which features images of President Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad, and other significant individuals and events.
The 126-foot-long and 40-foot-tall work is titled “Absolute Equality.” The phrase comes from a line in Granger's order stressing that enslaved people's freedom "involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property."
Galveston offers many historic sites and attractions, providing a real-time Juneteenth experience.
One is the carriage house of the 1859 Ashton Villa. And Still We Rise… Galveston's Juneteenth Story introduces the context and consequences of that announcement from 1865 to the present day, in a long journey towards "absolute equality."
Nearby Reedy Chapel AME Church was established in 1848 and would have been a central location for enslaved people to gather on the island. It is believed to be the last site along General Gordon Granger's march through Galveston on June 19, 1865. It is also the site of early Juneteenth celebrations in which freed enslaved people marched from the county courthouse to the church. This annual tradition is carried out to this day as part of the island's Juneteenth celebrations.
The city offers Juneteenth walking tours, including the Juneteenth Freedom Walk, African American Tour, and Juneteenth and Beyond Guided Tours. Several special events commemorate these essential history lessons annually.
If your travels bring you to Galveston, take time to learn more about Juneteenth and the city’s rich African American heritage.
For more information about Juneteenth sites in Galveston, click here. For information about special Juneteenth events, click here.
Ashton Villa image courtesy of Visit Galveston
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