Landing in Galveston, Union General Gordon Granger decrees that slavery in Texas is at an end.
As his troops occupied Galveston, Union General Gorgon Granger proclaimed that slavery was at an end and that all African-Americans were to be henceforth accorded "equality of personal rights and right of property." Actual emancipation took some time in the state, however, as federal officials regained control. But the date remains and is today celebrated as "Juneteenth." (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Alwyn Barr, Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995 (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973), 39-42.