On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved persons in the rebellious Confederacy to be free—but enforcement of the proclamation depended heavily on the advancement of the Union Army, freeing the enslaved as they moved through the South over the course of the war.
At the time, the state of Texas stood on the western fringes of our country, a distant frontier, and even after General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in April of 1865, more than 250,000 people remained in bondage in Texas. That wouldn’t come until the nineteenth of June, 148 years ago today, when Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston and issued the following order: |
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” |
Ever since, the 19th of June has been recognized as a Jubilee Day, eventually becoming the Juneteenth holiday we know today: a celebration of the freedom of Black Americans all across our nation, and a chance to rededicate our commitment to equality for all.
While emancipation wouldn’t be enshrined in the constitution until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment later that year, June 19th marked a watershed moment in the fulfillment of our nation’s founding promise. As Lincoln had put it the year before, in 1776 “our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
That’s a proposition we haven’t always lived up to, but today is a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come on our endless quest to create a more perfect union. It’s a powerful reminder that even if we still have a ways to go, we have to keep pushing. We may not finish the work of equality in our lifetimes, but we have to keep moving forward. We have to keep working for an America where every single one of our neighbors has the same access to opportunity and the American dream, regardless of their race.
It hasn’t been an easy road, and it won’t become an easy road any time soon, but I know that if we stand together, we’ll get there eventually. |
Happy Juneteenth,
Wesley Harris |
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Wesley Harris is a North Carolina native and the only PhD economist in the General Assembly. First elected in 2018, he has been fighting hard for the residents of southern Mecklenburg County and working to make our state the best place in the country to live, work, and start a family. Now, Wesley is running for Treasurer to return common sense to our state government and build opportunity for every North Carolinian.
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Paid for by Wesley Harris for NC Wesley Harris for NC
P.O. Box 77764
Charlotte, NC 28271
United States |
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