Juneteenth
is the annual day of celebration started in 1866 by former American
slaves to celebrate freedom. As soon as the Civil War was over, almost all of the slaves
in the South were freed – but not those in Texas. Even though the
Emancipation Proclamation was effective on January 1, 1863, the
Texas slaves were not released until 1865. One year later, they began their
celebration of freedom and called it “Juneteenth”, the shortened version
of June 19th.
During
the War, slave owners uprooted their families and made the long trip to the
West. They believed that they
could keep their slaves even if the South lost the Civil War if they
lived in Texas. When it became
obvious that the Union was going to win, they packed all of their furniture
and other possessions onto wagons. Along
with their family members, they took supplies, basic equipment, and, of
course, their best-working and favorite slaves. Frequently the rest were sold. The
adult slaves walked, herded like the larger animals, while the children rode
in covered or open wagons. At night, a few of them might have the room to
sleep in the wagons, but most slept on the ground on the side of the road
during a trip that often took grueling months to complete.
Former
slaves described what happened: Henry
Lewis, from Texas, reminisced: “Dey sent de papers down on March 3rd dat
said dat us was free. But dey
didn’t turn us loose den. Dis
was de las’ state to turn de slaves free. When dey didn’t let ’em go in March, de Yankee sojers [soldiers]
come in June and make ’em let ’em go. Dat how come us take holiday on Juneteenth.” Melinda Pollard also remembered: “I was set free June 19, 1865. De slave owners in Texas wanted to git deir crops done befo’ de
slaves was set free an’ lef’. Guess
dat’s why my cousins in Georgia don’ celebrate Juneteenth like us does.”
In
come cases, the slave owner made the trip (or paid an overseer to do so) while
family members took care of the home plantation. Sometimes they completely abandoned their land, especially if
their homes had been burned by Union soldiers. Mintie Maria Miller: “Dey brought us to Texas on a ox cart. My sister go on the wagon to go, too, an’ Marster said, ‘Adeline,
you can’ come. You got to stay
here with Mistress.’ Dat’s de
last I ever seen my sister. She
was four years old den. It took
us three months to come to Texas on de ox cart. I don’ know how far we come in one day, but it sure was
tiresome. … When de white folks in Louisiana an’ Mississippi knew dey wasn’
goin’ to win de War, dey sold as many of deir slaves as dey could. Dey brought some of de slaves from New Orleans an’ sold dem
in Houston. I heard dem say one
time dat dey sold a hundred in one day. … Mr. Johnson bought a man an’
woman an’ three chillun ’cause he could get ’em cheap. … When de War
was fought in Galveston, you could hear de guns an’ cannons by goin’ out
in de backyard. Den one day de
marster told us we was free. I
went to Houston with my mother. Dere
was a old colored woman who was a slave. Her marster was name’ Johnson, too. When de War come, her marster set her free an’ give her a house an’
some land. Dere’s where we went
after freedom. … A lot of people stayed with her.”
Ever-increasing
numbers of Juneteenth festivals are being celebrated in cities throughout
America and are attended by people of many heritages.
