Honoring Juneteenth
This holiday gives us the opportunity to confront the flaws of our past, honor the progress we have made, and resolve to continue our work for the future. Racial injustice has no place in our society and cannot be tolerated.
Texas Senator John Corynn
Photos courtesy of US Senate.
Dear Fellow Texans:
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-4305
June 19, 2024
Each Juneteenth, our nation comes together to commemorate the day Major General Gordon Granger and his Union troops arrived in Galveston and delivered the message to the last enslaved people in America that the Civil War was over and more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans in Texas were free.
One of the most pivotal moments in our nation’s history was when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring all enslaved men and women in Confederate territory were “forever free,” though it took more than two years for this news to finally reach Texas on June 19, 1865.
Nearly 160 years later, we now celebrate this day as Juneteenth. Three years ago, a bill I authored with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to make Juneteenth a federal holiday became law. Last year, I had the privilege of celebrating this victory with Ms. Opal Lee, also known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” in the Historic Southside neighborhood of Fort Worth, as we walked together to raise awareness of Juneteenth and help more Texans understand and appreciate the significance of this day.
Ms. Opal’s decades of tireless advocacy and famed walk from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., in support of the holiday are an inspiration. It was an honor to work with my colleagues in Congress to make her dream a reality.
This holiday gives us the opportunity to confront the flaws of our past, honor the progress we have made, and resolve to continue our work for the future. Racial injustice has no place in our society and cannot be tolerated.
Our nation is still on the road toward the “absolute equality” ordered by General Granger’s General Order No. 3, but I am confident we will continue taking steps forward to ensure all Americans can live freer lives for generations to come.
May God continue to bless the United States of America and the Great State of Texas.
Sincerely,
United States Senator
