This June 19 marks 160 years since Major General Gordon Granger and 1,800 Union troops marched into Galveston, Texas — not to announce newfound rights, but to enforce a freedom that Black people had tirelessly fought for for centuries and finally achieved. Today we celebrate the victory of the end of slavery under the banner of Juneteenth — and in those celebrations we must remain clear that Juneteenth didn’t come from proclamation. It was born of unwavering and unified resistance.
It’s no secret that Texas has often served as a testing ground for right-wing, white supremacist ideology in the U.S. Lesser known, however, is the history of Texas serving as a profound site of struggle against it — and in particular, for the cause of Black liberation. Even the history we are taught in schools postures the victory of the end of slavery as one granted to us through the benevolence of the white men who occupied the White House at the time. We’re taught not that the enslaved and abolitionist supporters defeated the pro-slavery, Confederate movement, but that Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation did. The whitewashing of this history of righteous resistance really serves to detract from the true power that working and oppressed people have always held and weaponized in the name of beating back white supremacy and winning freedom.
The real history of Juneteenth positions Texas as a critical player not simply in perpetuating white supremacy and slavery, but an ardent fighter for their defeat.
The real history of the Civil War victory
Since before the development of the Texas region as a formal entity of the U.S., white Southerners were attracted to the area, settling with their enslaved people in defiance of Mexican anti-slavery law. Upon Mexico seeking to enforce those laws, pro-slavery settlers launched the Texas Revolution in 1836 — in large part to protect their “right” to own slaves.
In 1840, the enslaved population in Texas was more than 13,000. By 1842, it had soared to almost 20,000. It was then that organized slave patrols emerged in the region, along with curfews and bounties for runaway slaves. The Texas Congress passed measures meant to control slaves — including the outlawing of interracial marriage and the disbarring of all those deemed Black from testifying against whites in court. And further, in the 1850s, the Knights of the Golden Circle — headquartered in San Antonio — was formed as a paramilitary secret society committed to the expansion of slavery and development of a slave empire across the U.S. South, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Many Texans at the time, and even prominent politicians, were either sympathetic or directly involved. When Texas joined the United States in 1845, it joined as a slave state, further entrenching its position as a bastion for white supremacist, pro-slavery elements.
Throughout the Civil War, Texas served as a vital stronghold for the Confederacy. Its geographic isolation shielded it from much of the direct destruction experienced by other Confederate states, allowing it to become a refuge for fleeing Confederate forces and slaveholders. Texas supplied troops, food, and military support to the Confederate war effort, all in defense of the slaveholding order. Still, resistance to the pro-slavery power structures persisted. Enslaved people in Texas specifically and the South at-large risked everything to flee their masters and join the Union Army to fight against slavery. Whether through the sabotage of plantations, the poisoning of masters or organized escapes, Black Texans sought to either flee to Mexico or aid the Union cause to defeat slavery. Mexican and Black solidarity ran deep, as they collaborated on the underground railroad and fought against the white supremacist forces in the region that sought to target them all.
We don’t learn about the nearly 200,000 Black soldiers who spied, sabotaged and fought to overthrow the slavocracy within the Union Army. Nor, do we learn about the nearly 2.5 million white soldiers who allied with the abolitionist cause and committed their lives to the fight against slavery, too. The Black freedom struggle pushed the Civil War from a conflict between the capitalist class in the North and the plantation class in the South to a multiracial abolitionist war to destroy chattel slavery in the United States once and for all.
Because of its isolation from the centers of the Civil War, slavery in Texas persisted for more than two months after the war effectively ended. It was on June 19, 1865 that General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, accompanied by a troop made of nearly 75% Black soldiers, to declare a victory over the slavocracy and the emancipation of the enslaved. That day, now commemorated as Juneteenth, marks a profound testament to the long resistance to slavery and white supremacy in Texas.
Juneteenth was not the end of Black struggle in Texas; it did, however, mark a new beginning. White supremacist violence surged during the Reconstruction era, as newly freed Black Texans organized for land, voting rights, and education. Despite terror campaigns waged by groups like the Ku Klux Klan and discriminatory laws that followed, Black Texans continued to organize hand-in-hand with other sympathetic racial groups to continue the fight against white supremacy.
Juneteenth celebrations stem from “Decoration Day” — a day in which newly freed slaves and others commemorated the sacrifice of soldiers, Black and white, who fought to defeat slavery. In the aftermath of the Confederate defeat, the elites of Texas — the descendants of the slavocracy — stripped “Decoration Day” of all its political ties to Black liberation. Blunting the legacy of resistance, the historic date was rebranded as “Memorial Day.”
Today, 160 years later, we enjoy a federal holiday to commemorate Juneteenth, in many cases without recognition of the real history of resistance. But really, this day should serve as a reminder of the valiant sacrifice of those who came before us, and a recommitment to our ongoing responsibility to the cause for Black liberation. We cannot simply celebrate the end of slavery while ignoring the deep systemic injustices that continue as the lifeblood of this country and the war that Donald Trump, Greg Abbott and their billionaire friends actively wage on Black communities.
In celebrating Juneteenth, it is necessary we view it as a day to recommit to the struggle for Black liberation today. Black resistance is the key to transforming Texas from a bastion of right-wing, white supremacist ideology to one that is just and equitable for all. Today, Black Texans continue to lead the charge, not just against racist policing, but against workplace discrimination, mass incarceration, failing public education and the war on the international working class. This is our fight today.
Juneteenth is not just a day to remember and celebrate — it is a call to action. It is a critical reminder that freedom is never given; it is an ongoing fight that must be fought for and won. And the people of Texas have a critical role to play in that continued fight.
Feature image: Black soldiers during the Civil War. Many enslaved people in Texas, and the South at-large, risked everything to flee their masters and join the Union Army. Public domain.
