Juneteenth

(Series free from Austin PBS)

Juneteenth pronounced the end of slavery in this land, and it has also taken on a note of distinction as a high moment for all people who celebrate freedom. Since U.S. General Gordon Granger’s June 19, 1865 arrival in Galveston to deliver General Order No. 3 freeing the slaves, Texans of all colors and generations have commemorated the day. The spirit of Juneteenth has even crossed state lines: another 40 states list Juneteenth as an official holiday or observance. People in every state around the country take the time to remember this date and celebrate!

Juneteenth is one of the best-regarded African American calendar events in this country, ranking next to Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Juneteenth Jamboree explores Juneteenth and what it represents: its real history and the meaning of emancipation and an abundance of entertainment.

For information on San Diego's Juneteenth Celebration, check out the Cooper Family Foundation's website.

The essential, sweeping story of Juneteenth's integral importance to American history, as told by a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Texas native. Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed's On Juneteenth provides a historian's view of the country's long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond. All too aware of the stories of cowboys, ranchers, and oilmen that have long dominated the lore of the Lone Star State, Gordon-Reed--herself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas as early as the 1820s--forges a new and profoundly truthful narrative of her home state, with implications for us all. Combining personal anecdotes with poignant facts gleaned from the annals of American history, Gordon-Reed shows how, from the earliest presence of Black people in Texas to the day in Galveston on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of legalized slavery in the state, African-Americans played an integral role in the Texas story. Reworking the traditional "Alamo" framework, she powerfully demonstrates, among other things, that the slave- and race-based economy not only defined the fractious era of Texas independence but precipitated the Mexican-American War and, indeed, the Civil War itself. In its concision, eloquence, and clear presentation of history, On Juneteenth vitally revises conventional renderings of Texas and national history.