BY BROTHER LOVE

On June 19, 1865, slaves in Galveston, Texas, celebrated the delayed news of freedom. Their impromptu celebrations spawned the folk festival known today as Juneteenth.

Since 1866 descendants of former slaves have gathered yearly to celebrate. The ethnic holiday celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation and Proclamation #3, two documents that announced that slaves were free. Juneteenth is the retelling of the legends of how the celebration got its name and why the news was late getting to Texas.

Busloads, carloads and trainloads of Texans, like migratory birds, are drawn back home for class reunions, parades with army tanks, paper flowers, brightly decorated floats with children throwing candy. Cowboys and cowgirls are sitting high on prancing horses, and there are sporting events, foot races, rodeos and children playing. You can smell barbecued ribs cooking on open fires and taste chilled watermelon and homemade ice cream. You can hear the mellow sound of blues and the upbeat tempo of gospel.

Juneteenth is the red, white and blue of the American flag and the brilliant burst of fireworks. It’s the Fourth of July for black Americans and an expression of Black Pride, solidarity and cultural tradition.

On Jan. 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. The last official announcement was on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Civil War ended. The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment completely abolished slavery in the United States.

The Civil War had ended on April 19 and the Union Army had been sent to Texas to restore order and ensure that the Emancipation was enforced and Proclamation #3 was read informing slaves that they were free at last. But not all slaves in the Southwest were told of their freedom on April 19. A few slaveholders continued to keep the news from them, and others told their slaves about the Proclamation but dared them to leave the plantation—the white slave owners had all their money tied up in crops and slaves and they needed to keep their slaves in order to harvest another cotton crop. On those overlooked plantations, the freed slaves were forced to work until June 19, when all the crops were in.