Thread by @EmilyMcgowin

Today we celebrate Juneteenth! What is that?

Juneteenth commemorates the arrival of Union army general Gordon Granger in the city of Galveston, TX on June 19, 1865 proclaiming that all enslaved persons in TX were now free.
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The Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed them ~2.5 yrs earlier & the Civil War had ended in April, but TX was the most remote of the slave states, w/ a low presence of Union troops.
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So, many enslaved Black persons did not know they had been formally freed, nor did they have the federal protection needed to claim their freedom.
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For those who’ve never encountered it, Gen. Granger’s proclamation reads:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance w/ a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free...
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“This involves an absolute equality of personal rights & rights of property between former masters & slaves, & the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer & hired labor...
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“The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes & 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.”
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Note: Even in this proclamation, freedom didn’t really mean freedom. The white conspiracy to enact slavery-by-another-name thru the restriction of Black rights, policing of Black bodies & activities, & acts of terrorism had already begun. But more about that another day...
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As the day when freedom was finally achieved by millions of enslaved Black Americans who had been fighting for freedom since at least 1619, Juneteenth should be a national holiday. #blackhistoryisamericanhistory

Please read more here: jemartisby.com/2018/06/27/why…
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Postscript: If you’re a white American just learning about Juneteenth, maybe consider:

1) lamenting the sin & injustice of a nation declaring emancipation while also holding people in a system that denies them basic rights like fair housing, a funded education, & due process.

2) making a donation to the NAACP, the Urban League, or other local orgs doing good work so that they can continue the work of emancipating this country, 155 years after the original Juneteenth.

3) spending a little time learning & then sharing w/ family & friends about our history—not history as we wish it were, but history as it actually is.