Joshua Houston leads a Juneteenth Parade in Huntsville, Texas, in a photo circa 1900. Sam Houston Memorial Museum and Republic of Texas Presidential LibraryThe news was startling. On June 19, 1865, two months after the U.S. Civil War ended, Union Gen. Gordon Granger walked onto the balcony at Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the people of the state that “all slaves are free.” As local plantation owners lamented the loss of their most valuable property, Black Texans celebrated G
For the formerly enslaved Black people in Texas, Juneteenth meant more than freedom. It meant reuniting families and building schools and developing political power.