Sam Collins remembers his grandmother telling him oral history that was handed down through the generations among Black Galvestonians. for NPR A scene at Reedy Chapel-AME Church. "The federal government finally made it a legal holiday." "People have been celebrating that day for 156 years," Cotham continues. I think that's why enslaved people seized on that order." Enslaved people were freed at massively different times. "There is not a natural freedom date for the whole country. Cotham, Jr, Texas Civil War historian and author of Juneteenth, The Story Behind The Celebration. "That event was like lightning striking," says Edward T. What was so unique about the Juneteenth Order that it is now a federal holiday? Texas was the last stop for Union troops who had been marching across the Confederate South and freeing slaves as they went. 3, which came to be called the Juneteenth Order, that liberated 250,000 enslaved Blacks in Texas. It wasn't until federal troops finally arrived to occupy Galveston that Granger issued General Orders No. But it was unenforceable in the defiant, slaveholding South. Two and a half years before Granger arrived, President Abraham Lincoln had issued his Emancipation Proclamation that legally freed three and a half million enslaved people in Confederate states. Now it's a parking lot that looks onto a large mural depicting Juneteenth history and surrounded by ocean-themed gift shops, an Irish pub, and a store that sells toe rings. The edifice occupied by Union officers is long gone. That was the day the Union general, who had recently sailed into Galveston to take command of the District of Texas, posted a brief order to the citizenry that included the soaring words: "All slaves are free." for NPR Sam Collins talks about a plaque commemorating the Middle Passage. ![]() You can watch a documentary about Juneteenth," Collins says, "but if you want to be immersed in the story, you have to visit Galveston, Texas, and the sites associated with June 19, 1865." With the new Juneteenth federal holiday, signed into law last year by President Biden, the city hopes it will also become a must-visit site of essential American history. Visitors flock to this languid barrier island to splash in the warm waters of the gulf, take in the graceful, historic architecture, eat oysters and stroll along the seawall. "So while Juneteenth became a national holiday last year, it has always been important to the descendants of the former enslaved here in Galveston and all throughout Texas." Gordon Granger set up his Union headquarters," says Collins, co-chair of the Juneteenth Legacy Project and unofficial tourism ambassador of Juneteenth in Galveston. ![]() ![]() "The birthplace of Juneteenth is here at the southwest corner of 22 nd and Strand where Gen. GALVESTON, Texas - As a blazing sun rises over Galveston Island on the Texas coast, Sam Collins stands on the spot where history happened 157 years ago.
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