Thread by @AstorAaron

Why "Juneteenth"? It was the date in 1865 US troops under command of Gen. Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, TX. He issued General Order 3: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."

Note that emancipation did not occur in one singular moment. It required a combination of Presidential order (esp. Emanc. Proc.), Congressional acts, enslaved people bravely pressing for freedom (esp. Union lines) within the war, Union military movement, & Const. Amendment.

As this map visualization shows, most of the enslaved people in the South were not actually freed until the very end, though in some parts of the South enslaved men, women and children attained their freedom quite early in the war. dsl.richmond.edu/emancipation/

Ironies abound with the timing. Some of the earliest liberation occurred in the secessionist hotbed of South Carolina's Low Country and Sea Islands in 1862. But emancipation did not arrive in Unionist Delaware and Kentucky until ratification of the 13th Amendment in Dec 1865.

Of the famous Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863? This map shows the contingencies of troop movement and early politics of Reconstruction at the moment the Lincoln issued the Proclamation. Union controlled areas exempted, but only if a pro-Union civil government existed.

The red areas generally experienced emancipation first, though the first real "emancipation event" at Fortress Monroe is in one of the blue sections. Slaves re-termed "contraband of war" by Gen. Benj Butler in May 1861, codified by two Confiscation Acts (Aug 61 & Jul 62).

The Corinth, MS Contraband Camp interprets the lives of enslaved people as they reached Union lines and built lives in freedom. Corinth is in one of the red areas of the map.

But political and military events shaped the general timing of emancipation. The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was issued Sept. 22, 1862 to entice rebellious states to return to the Union. They would be exempted from the full Proc. on Jan 1 if they re-entered the Union.

Tennessee was granted a temporary "blue" status because Gov. And. Johnson thought he could form a Unionist civilian govt if only Lincoln agreed to hold off emancipation for a bit. That failed. On Aug 8, Johnson encouraged black military enlistment+freedom. opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/whe…

For this reason, African Americans in Tennessee and Kentucky (and much of the Upper South) have long recognized August 8 as their "Juneteenth."

The vicissitudes of war brought emancipation to some states (Mississippi) before others (Alabama). Note that the last CSA General to surrender, Stand Watie, did not do so until June 23, 1865. E. Kirby-Smith signed surrender of the CSA Trans-Miss. in Galveston on June 2.

So Juneteenth wasn't slaves "first hearing about their emancipation after the war." It was when the Emancipation Proclamation could finally take effect in Texas. Confederates surrendered in Texas just 17 days earlier. As elsewhere, emancipation arrived in TX w/ the Union army.

But it's important to note that African American Union soldiers arrived in TX in larger numbers from June 1865 through 1866, often replacing white Union soldiers sent back home. And as elsewhere, the course & timing of emancipation shaped the process of Reconstruction to come.

At the same time, it's important to remember how "unthinkable" general emancipation was to most Americans - black & white - in 1860. What happened the next few years was revolutionary - incomplete in many ways - but still one of the most profound moments of liberation in history.