Juneteenth and the memorial to black history in Texas

[sheshe2]

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General  Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President  Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official  January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

snip//

...in the early months of 1865, Texas newspapers still contained advertisements of slaves for sale as Texans went about their slave-holding business as usual openly defying compliance with the proclamation. Some Texas slaves reported being in bondage as much as six years after emancipation, and after Juneteenth, blacks were murdered, lynched, and harassed by whites.

“The war may not have brought a great deal of bloodshed to Texas,” notes historian Elizabeth Hayes Turner, “but the peace certainly did.”

Slave “patrols” of whites scoured the countryside for runaway blacks, who were beaten and sometimes killed. The same held true for sympathizing whites. The fear and uncertainty about emancipated slaves was evidenced in stories appearing in the Galveston newspaper, wondering about the white citizens' plight, economically and socially, under “a government in which we have now no voice.” Another piece, in the Galveston Tri-Weekly News, on June 21: “This attempt to overthrow an institution that has become a part of our social system and which our entire population has believed essential to the welfare of both races, led to the war ... and all we can do in our present entire dependence on the clemency of our conquerors, is to repeat to them what we have been urging for so many years ... that the attempt to set the negro free from all restraint and make him politically the equal of the white man, will be most disastrous to the whole country and absolutely ruinous to the South.”
That was the mood that greeted Gen. Granger and his troops, who met no resistance at Galveston, two and a half months after Lee's surrender and three weeks after Gen. E. Kirby Smith had surrendered the last regular Texas Confederate soldiers at Galveston Island. Granger was sent to command the Department of Texas and among his first duties was announcing General Order No. 3:

“The people are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and of property, between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor: The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Granger set up a provisional government as some of his troops continued throughout South and East Texas enforcing the “official” mandate of freedom.

Much More:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/6/18/1670962/-Juneteenth-and-the-memorial-to-black-history-in-Texas

Yet today 2017, they are still not free from the hatred and racism. They are profiled, stalked, shot walking down the street, sitting in their cars, selling cigarettes on the street or playing in the park with a toy gun within seconds of our peace officers arriving on the scene. And few peace officers are held accountable for their deaths...their murders.

From my post above. The white citizens' plight and how they mourned that they would have no voice.

"The fear and uncertainty about emancipated slaves was evidenced in stories appearing in the Galveston newspaper, wondering about the white citizens' plight, economically and socially, under “a government in which we have now no voice.” Bullshit.

[furtheradu]

1. Thank YOU.💖 Dear SheShe!

This will be more emotional than usual Juneteenth.
But I will Walk.
Thank You

[sheshe2]

2. I just posted on your thread as well.

I was working on mine and did not see yours until after I posted. Yes, it will be an emotional day...I wish you peace.

[furtheradu]

6. Thank You for this post 💖

These details are so important. These are sad times.. WE need to know our history, what is left out of the history books, yet really happened to our People, OUR COUNTRY.
THIS is more important today, than ever before.
Big ole hugs to YOU, for Your constant Passion *&* Compassion.

You are a Blessing to this World.

[Tanuki]

3. K &R

[sheshe2]

4. Thank you, Tanuki.

[Tanuki]

5. The sculpture is beautiful. It reminds me of the Saint-Gaudens memorial

in Boston that comemmorates Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment (depicted in the film Glory).

[sheshe2]

7. I am from MA

Where does that stand in Boston?

Beautiful. thank you.

[Tanuki]

8. It's on Beacon Hill, at the edge of Boston Common, right across the street

from the State House. Here is a clip from a PBS docunentary:
https://m.

[sheshe2]

9. Thank you.

[furtheradu]

10. I would like to link this thread to my OP!💖

Such goood information. I don't know how to do that, I only have a magic phone, & I am tech challenged.
But this is important. Thank YOU 💖, again!

[heaven05]

11. +++