Image above:  A group of Texans pose for a group portrait on Juneteenth Emancipation Day, 1900. (Mrs. Charles Stephenson [Grace Murray], public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, during the Civil War. It stipulated that as of January 1, 1863, all enslaved persons in the Confederate States of America who were in rebellion and not in Union hands were freed. But it was not until the Union won the Civil War that emancipation spread throughout the United States. Even then, only the implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment at the end of 1865 would force two states, Kentucky and Delaware, to end legalized slavery.

In outposts such as Texas, slavery survived until well into 1865. Union troops were sent to enforce emancipation, and after reaching the island of Galveston, Texas, Union Major General Gordon Granger issued a military order on June 19, 1865, announcing that

… 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.

A Juneteenth celebration in Richmond, Virginia, in 1905. (Library of Congress)

The day would be an occasion for celebrations starting in 1866, but the victory of reaching freedom was bittersweet: The military order also stated that “freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” Full legal freedom would not be secured in Texas until 1874, and even then persistent prejudice and oppression would soon lead to Jim Crow and other repressive measures.

The battle for social equality and racial justice continues. Even today we are still fighting ongoing and renewed efforts to suppress the vote and create mistrust in our democracy. And we continue the fight to secure and expand access to the franchise for all citizens of the United States. That dream is not fully realized, but it continues to motivate us to keep fighting for it. You can learn more about Juneteenth at Juneteenth.com. And you can advance the fight against voter suppression by contacting your senators and asking them to support S1, the For the People Act.

—Chris Moose, Voter editor