This story was originally published by the Ledger-Enquirer.
June 19, or Juneteenth, celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It’s the official federal holiday in the United States, a day (or several days or more) when commemorations and events mark the day.
But while the federal holiday takes place in June, Georgians can trace the emancipation date two months prior. And some even celebrate it two months earlier.
In fact, Gary Sprayberry, a history professor at Columbus State University, said its origins can be traced back nearly 160 years ago to a town in south Texas.
“Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended,” he said.
Granger’s announcement informed the people of Texas that “all slaves are free” and mandated “an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.”
Mike Haskey
Mike Haskey
Granger’s words were based on the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been put into effect by President Abraham Lincoln over two and a half years earlier. Sprayberry said the delay between the law and its implementation occurred nationally.
“The Proclamation only referred to slaves still held in Confederate controlled territories,” he said. “Those slaves wouldn’t actually taste freedom until they were liberated by Union troops, they escaped or ran away, or they fled to Union lines.”
Juneteenth was initially celebrated in Texas alone, becoming an official holiday in the state in 1979. It was designated a federal holiday in 2021 by President Joe Biden, but Sprayberry said the date doesn’t necessarily hold the same significance in Columbus as it does in Galveston.
“Thousands of enslaved people in Georgia gained their freedom long before Granger’s arrival in Galveston,” he said. “They reacted to emancipation in a variety of ways… All of them wondered and worried about what the end of slavery meant for them.”
Columbus and Juneteenth
Many Columbusites celebrate the end of slavery about two months before Juneteenth because slaves in Columbus and Phenix City were freed by the Union Army April 16, 1865. John Lewis, a 63-year-old Columbus resident, was raised celebrating Emancipation Day in April every year.
“As far back as I can remember, we’ve been marking our freedom on April 16,” he said. “From what we can tell from the records, our family’s been around Columbus since the 1870s, so we figured they were freed in April rather than June.”
Slaves in Columbus were freed over two months before those in Galveston, but the city organizes nearly a dozen events around Juneteenth every year.
Ledger-Enquirer
Ledger-Enquirer
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