Juneteenth is the day slavery finally ended in the United States.
Robert E. Lee surrendered the main rebel army in Virginia in April 1865. It took a while to mop up the smaller rebel units. Generally, the Union Army moved east to west. It took a couple of months for the army to get to Texas, which was a backwater of the war. For enslaved people, the nightmare didn’t end until the soldiers arrived.
On June 19, 1865, general orders were read in Galveston, Texas, proclaiming the end of slavery. The news spread rapidly, setting off celebrations across the state.
If there had been Confederate states farther west, further removed from the war’s center, slavery would have endured a bit longer. But Texas was the end of the line.
The nightmare ended on June 19, 1865 in Galveston.
It’s true that other nightmares followed. But those nightmares can be ended and will be one day.
The experience of African Americans in places like Texas is evidence that good people and good causes prevail.
Jim Crow was brutal, anti-democratic, tyrannical. But its legacy didn’t last half as long as the demagogues who fashioned it imagined. If you’re worried about the future of the democracy, this is your holiday. It might be especially important for you and your wellbeing to celebrate this day.
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