Two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation there remained enslaved people in the United States.
Although Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, slavery remained relatively unaffected in Texas, according to TV’s History Channel.
The Emancipation Proclamation applied only to places under Confederate control and not to slave-holding border states or rebel areas under Union control, such as Texas.
Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay. The Army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free by executive decree. The day came to be known as “Juneteenth” by the newly freed people in Texas, according to the History Channel.
Juneteenth is short for “June Nineteenth” and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it became an official federal holiday.
Fayetteville will celebrate Juneteenth Jubilee on June 17-18 at Festival Park downtown.
From 3 to 9 p.m. July 17, Cool Spring Downtown District will present an old-school skate jam, more than 90 vendors and food trucks, and musical headliners Rose Royce and the FatBack Band.
From 2 to 6 p.m. June 18, multiple Grammy Award winner and “Soul Train” gospel recording artist Tye Tribbett will perform.
For more information, go to visitdowntownfayetteville.com or call 910-223-1089
