Today is #Juneteenth, an annual event celebrating the end of chattel slavery in the United States in commemorating the issuance of General Order No. 3 (which included the line "all slaves are free") in Galveston, Texas on 19 June 1865. In 2021, Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday and is also celebrated outside of the United States.
Over the years, a number of myths concerning Juneteenth have developed which are repeated annually as part of the celebration's history. Among these is that General Order No. 3 ended slavery in the United States on 19 June 1865. Slavery was not abolished in the US until 6 December 1865 through the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, and so General Order No. 3 did not end slavery, it only made clear that the Emancipation Proclamation of 1 January 1863, freeing slaves in the confederate states, would be enforced.
General Order No. 3 did not free slaves in the border states of Kentucky and Delaware or anywhere exempted by the Emancipation Proclamation. It did, however, proclaim freedom for the large slave population in Texas, and six months later, on 1 January 1866 (the three-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation), the freed people of Texas celebrated the event as "Freedom Day", and 19 June 1866 became the first observance of what would become Juneteenth – a combination of "June" and "nineteenth."
From Texas, 19 June came to be celebrated annually in other states up through the early 20th century when observances declined, owing to social and political pressures, but were renewed even before the event became associated with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Texas declared 19 June a state holiday in 1980, and other states, though not all, later followed suit until the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was passed in June 2021, signed by President Joe Biden, making the event a federal holiday to be observed by all states.
Image: "A Ride for Liberty – The Fugitive Slaves", oil on paperboard by Eastman Johnson, c. 1862.
#slavery #ushistory #USHistoryFacts #history #historyfacts
Executive Director
4mo100% totally agree!