Juneteenth Isn't Just a Celebration of the End of Slavery. We Also Honor the Black Americans Who Helped Create Their Own Freedom

Time

BY JANELL ROSS
A mural in Galveston, Texas, marks the spot where General Order No. 3 was issued (Montinique Monroe—The New York Times/Redux)

If you ask Black people born and raised on the island, Juneteenth marks the day Black soldiers in blue uniforms came with their guns to Galveston. That is the story they have told for generations, about the moment some of their ancestors knew freedom had finally arrived in Texas, the westernmost Confederate breakaway state.

That’s the truth as it’s widely understood by Black people in Galveston, even if the common story of that day often focuses on a single white man: General Gordon Granger, who led Union troops to the harbor there on June 17, 1865. Two days later, records in the National Archives tell us, he issued what’s known as General Order No. 3.

Publish : 2021-06-20 15:17:00

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