on broadway where the union soldiers would have moved through the city and posted the notice general order number 3 on the door here. reporter: general order number 3 required absolute equality but for galveston s black community, equality has been anything but absolute. people paw about wall street in tulsa but there were many communities that were successful outside of those stories of places that were destroyed grandpa galv galveston is one of those. he said low playing jobs and people fleeing to opportunities else wren and drained historic neighborhoods and in 2008 a near death blow to the black community. hurricane ike. tonight, galveston is a soaked and shattered disaster zone. reporter: 75% of galveston s houses and other buildings were taken out by the storm, including nearly 600 units of public housing the primarily black residents
today. let s take a listen. you re here on the southwest of 22nd and strand where the juneteenth story began reporter: it s been 157 years since the very first juneteenth celebration. here on the island of galveston in texas, where the last of america s enslaved black people were finally freed sam collins is the co-chair of the juneteenth legacy project. we re at the church on broadway where the union soldiers would have moved through the city and posted the notice, general order number 3, on the door here. reporter: general order number 3 required absolute equality but for galveston s black community, equality has been anything but absolute. people talk about black wall street in tulsa, but there were many communities that were successful outside of those stories of places that were destroyed. galveston was one of those thriving communities. reporter: he says low paying jobs, a risieing cost of living
name that has faded with time. i guess what is at stake is just the preservation of this very important history they made homes for themselves they educated themselves they formed organizations. i want to bring back black folks having influence on the island. reporter: long time resident anthony griffin is breathing new life into old black galveston. we want to put a commercial development there and place a hotel on the other side of the street we own three or four lots on the other side. reporter: his plan? buy up as much lapped as he can to house employee families still fighting for the true freedom that was promised. if you don t have economic opportunity, if you don t own land, if you re not able to participate fully in the american dream, you can t ever have absolutely equality. reporter: folks say that it s great that people all around the country are paying taattention o galveston but folks are still fighting today and they have
w extreme weather. 14 tornados in nine states this weekend as record breaking triple digit temperatures hit parts of the region. plus, unprovoked, the deadly bear attack this arizona that experts are calling extremely rare what happened? and later, we ll travel to galveston, texas, known as the birthplace of juneteenth this is ana cabrera reports . stay right there our heritage is ingrained in our skin. and even when we metamorphosize into our new
after the emancipation proclamation our reporter traveled to galveston where the fight for equality is going on isn try and a half later and the latest front is gentrifiication i went down to the descendents who celebrate the ye earliest juneteenth celebrations they are fighting to hold on to their communities. i went to galveston to learn more check it out reporter: you re here on the southwest corner of 22nd and strang where the juneteenth store began. reporter: it s been 157 years since the very first juneteenth celebration. here on the island of galveston in texas where the last of america s enslaved back people were finally freed sam collins is the co-chair of the juneteenth legacy project. we are at the colored church