Juneteenth is often described as the day “slavery ended in Texas,” but the truth behind it tells a deeper, more sobering story - one that includes deception, delay, and a hard-won arrival of justice.
When President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it declared that enslaved people in the Confederate states were free. But in reality, that freedom didn’t reach Texas - not because the law hadn’t changed, but because white slaveholders chose not to obey it.
Texas, far from Union lines and largely untouched by the war’s final battles, became a kind of last refuge for slaveholders trying to outrun emancipation. As the Confederacy crumbled, some even moved west to Texas specifically to avoid the reach of federal forces - bringing tens of thousands of enslaved people with them.
And for more than two years after Lincoln’s order, those enslaved people were deliberately kept in the dark.
It wasn’t until June 19, 1865 - two months after the Civil War ended - that Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with federal troops and issued General Order No. 3, finally enforcing emancipation in Texas. That announcement declared, in part:
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
The reactions were mixed - jubilation from the newly freed, denial and outrage from former slaveholders - but for the enslaved people of Texas, Juneteenth marked the actual beginning of their freedom.
The fact that they were kept in bondage so long after being legally freed is not just a historical footnote. It’s the reason Juneteenth exists. It honors the moment when freedom finally caught up to Texas - and acknowledges the injustice of how long it was denied.
Today, Juneteenth is a state holiday in Texas and a federal holiday nationwide, officially recognized in 2021. In Dallas, Fort Worth, and across North Texas, it’s celebrated with festivals, parades, music, and education - not just as a commemoration of emancipation, but as a powerful reminder of the work that was delayed, and the freedom that had to be enforced.
As we approach Juneteenth 2025, communities across Texas are reflecting not only on what was gained that day in Galveston - but also on what was deliberately withheld for far too long.
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