Why June 19th (Juneteenth)?
It had been more then two years since the now deceased President, Abraham Lincoln, had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, abolishing the institution of slavery in the United States. Texas was the last holdout following the end of the war, so the Emancipation Proclamation had little to no impact in the state.
On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger and his regiment rode into Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War was over; more than a quarter of a million enslaved Texans were now free.
So in a way, this is an independence day celebration for a people who were not free when another declaration of emancipation was penned and signed 246 years ago: The Declaration of Independence.
So why not celebrate today with our fellow American brothers and sisters of color? Let us find common ground, especially since…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independance
To you, men and women alike, who all have been created equal and endowed by the Creator of Life, the Universe, and Everything with unalienable rights; from a Hitchhiker who was emancipated from his sin by the Triune God of Grace…
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