Even though the Emancipation Proclamation technically freed all enslaved persons in 1863, it was not until June 19, 1865 that all were actually informed that they were free. On that date, U.S. General Gordon Granger read General Orders No. 3 in Galveston, Texas stating “the people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

On paper, at least, this decree freed more than 250,000 enslaved Blacks. However, as internationally lauded historian and University of Houston professor, Dr. Gerald Horne, shares in his book “The Counter Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery and Jim Crow and the Roots of American Fascism,” the reality was much different. Horne highlights that it was the oft-ignored “war” waged by Granger’s roughly 2,000 predominantly Black troops against stubborn enslavers that made freedom possible. Grangers soldiers took on those who refused to acknowledge the new law of the land.

Horne reveals that Black troops engaged in numerous bloody battles with White enslavers and their armed forces, defeating them on the battlefield, thus making Juneteenth quite literally a Black Liberation holiday.