On Friday, communities across America, including Madera, put a stamp of approval on Abraham Lincoln’s attempt to end slavery, notwithstanding the fact that he didn’t live to see its ultimate success.
On Jan. 1, 1863, the great emancipator issued an executive order declaring an end to human bondage in America, but there was a problem. He left some holes in the order. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all of the slaves.
With a stroke of the pen he freed all of the slaves being held in states that were in rebellion, but at the same time he excluded slaves in some of the border states. Slaves in Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, and parts of Louisiana were left as if the Proclamation had never been written.
So, the Civil War and slavery continued for two more years. It took the defeat of the Confederacy to bring about the end of slavery, and even then it was a slow process.
Thousands of plantation owners kept their field hands in bondage. It fell to the Union Army to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, and that’s what brought Union Major General Gordon Granger to Galveston Texas on June 19, 1865, with over 2,000 troops.
It had been estimated that 250,000 African-Americans were still being held as slaves in the Lone Star State. The delay in freedom occurred because Texas, being the westernmost Confederate state, had minimal Union presence, allowing slavery to persist despite the legal decree ending it.
When the enslaved African Americans in Texas were finally informed of their freedom, marking the effective end of slavery in the United States, they burst out in celebrations.
They called their festivities “Juneteenth” observances because it had been on June 19th that General Granger had announced that all the slaves were finally free.
The first Juneteenth celebrations often involved church-centered gatherings, prayer meetings, singing spirituals, and wearing new clothes to symbolize newfound freedom. Over time, these celebrations spread to other states, becoming an annual tradition among African American communities. By the 1920s and 1930s, Juneteenth celebrations proliferated across the nation.
Although Juneteenth was celebrated regionally for over a century, it became a state holiday in Texas in 1980, with other states following suit. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 19 a federal holiday.
Today, Juneteenth is observed with educational events, family gatherings, festivals, and cultural programs across the United States.
It serves as a reminder of the struggle for freedom and underscores the importance of understanding the historical context of emancipation.