Happy Juneteenth to our US neighbours, and thank you, @themrmajestic. 🖤🤎💛🤍❤️ #Repost ✊🏾 Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, with news the war had ended and the enslaved were now free. Note: it was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. The Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with General Lee’s surrender in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance. ✊🏾 Later attempts to explain this two-and-a-half year delay in the receipt of this important news yielded several versions handed down through the years. Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another is that the news was deliberately withheld by enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations. And still another is that federal troops actually waited for slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. All or none of these versions could be true. Certainly, for some, President Lincoln's authority over the rebellious states was in question. Whatever the reasons, conditions in Texas remained status quo well beyond what was statutory. ✊🏾 GENERAL ORDER NUMBER 3 One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas General Order Number 3, which began most significantly with: "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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer." #juneteenth #blackindependenceday https://www.instagram.com/p/CBoCsvpBrHj/?igshid=ivxuga1m7k2p
