| Related sites for http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/JJ/lkj1.html |
| Mark_Dery\'s_Shovelware Mark Dery popularized the term "culture jamming", and wrote a pamphlet titled "Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs". | | French_Penfriend Bilingual (French and English) site promoting penfriends throughout France and the rest of the world. | | Queer_Music_Heritage Houston, Texas based radio show dedicated to preserving the history of gay & lesbian music. Includes streams of past broadcasts. | | Worgs,_Michael Brief personal information, friends, links and pictures. | | Kamath,_Gautam Includes personal information, a resume, photographs, and links. | | Moan_Family Family history of Russell, Lyn, Scott, Matthew and Brett Moan of Myrtle Creek, Oregon USA. | | Multilateral_Investment_Guarantee_Agency_(MIGA) Encourages direct foreign investment in developing countries with investment guarantees against political risks. | | Bougainville_Independence A history of the island's struggle for freedom, from the World History Archives. | | Vegetarian_Dogs Book which gives information on purchasing or home-making vegetarian dog food, its benefits, and other pet care issues. Ordering information. | | Wild_Rose_Dreamers_Lodge A center for the practice of esoteric healing, energy work, spiritual astrology and prophecy, metaphysics, and shamanic ceremonial rituals, includes ceremony descriptions, schedules, and message board | | Kabbalah_Simply_Stated You can start a Kabbalah Study Group in your area through The International Kabbalah Association. Bob Waxman, co-founder, offers (9) Kabbalah classes in South Florida and is the author of "Kabbalah Si | | Divine_Science_Federation_International_(DSFI) A central office for the Divine Science organizations founded by Nona Brooks. Includes information about Divine Science, studies, book lists and member organizations. | | Angry_Homo Political commentary from a gay perspective. | | Nelson\'s_Home_Page Details of Nelson's life, battles and ships delivered as if by Nelson himself. Site built by the 1805 Club. | | Tennessee_Chapter_of_Child_Advocacy_Centers Provides information on all the Child Advocacy Centers in the state. Also serves as a source of information for professionals in the field of child advocacy. | | Jesus_Works Offers free promotion to ministries who are helping others while spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Web design, web hosting, promotions, publishing and marketing. | | Bygone_Beliefs___The_Cambridge_Platonists Chapter from this 1920 work by Herbert Stanley Redgrove, giving a basic outline of the careers of each of the principal members of this movement. | | Initiatives_for_Access__Treasures_-_Tyndale Photograph of the first page of the Gospel of John of a rare Tyndale New Testament owned by the British Library, along with a summary of its history. | | Norman_Thomas_(1884-1968) Biographical essay of the American socialist leader and Presidential candidate from Spartacus Schoolnet. | | For_Healthcare_Professionals__Guidelines_on_Prevention_of_and_Response_to_Infant_Abductions Targeted at maternal/child-care nurses, healthcare security administrators, law-enforcement officials, public-relations officers, and parents. Recommends actions to be taken to prevent an infant abdu |
|
Handbook of Texas Online - JUNETEENTH
  
 
 Used Car Buying GuideListings, News, Tips,Insurance Information,Reviews and More
format this article to print
JUNETEENTH.
On June 19 ("Juneteenth"), 1865, Union general Gordon
Grangerqv read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, thus belatedly
bringing about the freeing of 250,000 slaves in Texas. The tidings
of freedom reached slaves gradually as individual plantation owners
read the proclamation to their bondsmen over the months following
the end of the war. The news elicited an array of personal celebrations,
some of which have been described in The Slave Narratives of
Texas (1974). The first broader celebrations of Juneteenth
were used as political rallies and to teach freed African Americanqv about their voting rights. Within a short time, however, Juneteenth
was marked by festivities throughout the state, some of which
were organized by official Juneteenth committees.
The day has been celebrated through formal thanksgiving
ceremonies at which the hymn "Lift Every Voice" furnished
the opening. In addition, public entertainment, picnics, and family
reunions have often featured dramatic readings, pageants, parades,
barbecues, and ball games. Blues festivals have also shaped the
Juneteenth remembrance. In Limestone County, celebrants gather
for a three-day reunion organized by the Nineteenth of June Organization.
Some of the early emancipation festivities were relegated by city
authorities to a town's outskirts; in time, however, black groups
collected funds to purchase tracts of land for their celebrations,
including Juneteenth. A common name for these sites was Emancipation
Park. In Houston, for instance, a deed for a ten-acre site was
signed in 1872, and in Austin the Travis County Emancipation Celebration
Association acquired land for its Emancipation Park in the early
1900s; the Juneteenth event was later moved to Rosewood Park.
In Limestone County the Nineteenth of June Association acquired
thirty acres, which has since been reduced to twenty acres by
the rising of Lake Mexia.
Particular celebrations of Juneteenth have had unique
beginnings or aspects. In the state capital Juneteenth was first
celebrated in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureauqv and became part of the calendar of public events by 1872. Juneteenth
in Limestone County has gathered "thousands" to be with
families and friends. At one time 30,000 blacks gathered at Booker
T. Washington Park, known more popularly as Comanche Crossing,
for the event. One of the most important parts of the Limestone
celebration is the recollection of family history, both under
slaveryqv and since. Another of the state's memorable celebrations of Juneteenth
occurred in Brenham, where large, racially mixed crowds witness
the annual promenade through town. In Beeville, black, white,
and brown residents have also joined together to commemorate the
day with barbecue, picnics, and other festivities.
Juneteenth declined in popularity in the early 1960s,
when the civil-rights movement,qv with its push for integration,
diminished interest in the event. In the 1970s African Americans'
renewed interest in celebrating their cultural heritage led to
the revitalization of the holiday throughout the state. At the
end of the decade Representative Al Edwards, a Democrat from Houston,
introduced a bill calling for Juneteenth to become a state holiday.
The legislature passed the act in 1979, and Governor William P.
Clements, Jr., signed it into law. The first state-sponsored Juneteenth
celebration took place in 1980.
Juneteenth has also had an impact outside the state.
Black Texans who moved to Louisiana and Oklahoma have taken the
celebration with them. In 1991 the Anacostia Museum of the Smithsonian
Institution sponsored "Juneteenth '91, Freedom Revisited,"
featuring public speeches, African-American arts and crafts, and
other cultural programs. There, as in Texas, the state of its
origin, Juneteenth has provided the public the opportunity to
recall the milestone in human rights the day represents for African
Americans.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Randolph B. Campbell, "The End
of Slavery in Texas: A Research Note," Southwestern Historical
Quarterly 88 (July 1984). Doris Hollis Pemberton, Juneteenth
at Comanche Crossing (Austin: Eakin Press, 1983). Vertical
Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
William H. Wiggins, Jr., O Freedom! Afro-American Emancipation
Celebrations (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987).
David A. Williams, The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and
the Emancipation Proclamation, Texas Style (June 19, 1865)
(Austin: Williams Independent Research Enterprises, 1979).
Teresa Palomo Acosta
top of page |
about |
search |
help |
home -
contribute -
bookstore -
teaching tools -
feedback -
credits -
multimedia -
news
how to cite this article |
report an error or correction |
suggest an article topic
Copyright © Texas State Historical AssociationTerms of Use |
|
