Juneteenth Parade 2019

Juneteenth, also known as

"Freedom Day" or "Emancipation Day"

commemorates the announcement of the

abolition of slavery in Texas.

On September 22nd, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation effectively ending slavery on January 1st, 1863,

however, the Proclamation had little effect in the State of Texas until two and a half years later. It was on June 19th, 1865, that Union General Gordon Granger read General Orders No. 3 to the people of Galveston, Texas:

“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.”