Teaching Juneteenth: A History Lesson in Slavery and Freedom

This article originally appeared in UCSB’s ‘The Current‘.

The American Civil War had been over for two years before the news arrived to much of Texas, where on June 19, 1865, in the small seaport of Galveston, Union General Gordon Granger issued the now-famous General Order No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation for the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

That historic event, now referred to as Juneteenth, prompted annual celebrations in Texas starting in 1866, with widespread parties and slavery survivors educating new generations about the atrocities of the past. Those traditions held. In 1980, Juneteenth became an official holiday in the Lone Star state, and on June 17, 2021, it finally became a federal holiday.