Juneteenth - Part 1

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor." ~  General Order No. 3

The surrender at Appamattox ended the Civil War and finally freed many enslaved people whose lives had remained unchanged by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. However, it took another two months to get the word to the areas of the Confederacy west of the Mississippi, and on June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger brought the news to Galveston in the form of General Order No. 3 as quoted above. Granger was accompanied by 2,000 Union troops to enforce the order, which affected 250,000 enslaved people in Texas alone.


Celebrations began immediately, and have continued on the anniversary of that date, known as Juneteenth. African Americans would meet annually for picnics, barbecues, and family reunions. Often barred from other meeting grounds, they began to pool their resources to buy land where they could meet. Emancipation Park in Houston, Booker T Washington Park in Mexia, and Emancipation Park in Austin all were created during this time, with Mexia drawing crowds of over 20,000. 


By the turn of the century Juneteenth was known as Texas Emancipation Day, and its observation had spread to neighboring states. It was often sponsored by churches and black civic organizations, and included baseball games, horse races, and balls. White politicians would take advantage of the opportunity to address the crowds.


By the time of the depression involvement in Juneteenth was beginning to decrease. People were leaving farms to take factory work that wouldn't accommodate a day off to celebrate, and few elders were left who remembered the actual event. 


Tomorrow's post will be on the resurgence of Juneteenth and its recognition as a legal holiday.

Jack Johnson

The "Galveston Giant" was born on March 31, 1878 and left school in fifth grade to work on the docks and later as a sparring partner. He won his first title in 1903 becoming the World Colored Heavyweight Champion. The current champion, James J Jeffries, refused to fight him, but in 1908 he gained the World Heavyweight Championship over Canadian Tommy Burns. White anger over an African American man holding the title led author Jack London to call for a "Great White Hope" to fight Jackson, and Jeffries came out of retirement for a bout on July 4, 1910 in Reno, Nevada.

Rioting followed Jackson's win, causing films of boxing matches to be banned until 1940 in fear that they would cause further unrest, and former President Theodore Roosevelt -- a boxer himself -- called for a complete ban of the sport. Jackson eventually lost his title to Jess Willard in 1915 after being knocked out in the 26th round of a 45-round fight.

In 1920 he began serving a year-long federal prison sentence for violation of the Mann Act, and afterward fought professionally until 1938 but lost seven on his last nine fights. He died in 1946 of injuries following a car accident in Raleigh, NC.

His life was depicted in the movie "The Great White Hope" and in the PBS documentary "Unforgivable Blackness".

Estevanico

"The first known person born in North Africa to have arrived
in the present-day continental United States."

Also known as Esteban, Stephen the Moor, and other variants, Estevanico was one of four survivors of the Spanish Narvaez expedition led by Cabeza de Vaca which landed in Florida in 1528 and then sailed westward only to be shipwrecked near Galveston Bay. They made their way to the interior of Texas through present-day San Antonio and Pecos. Coming across a Spanish slaving expedition, the groups joined forces and headed northward in search of the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. Estevanico, serving as a scout, went ahead of the party, and was killed upon attempting to enter the village of Hawikuh near Zuni Pueblo in northwestern New Mexico.