One day, while hiding in the kitchen, Charlotte Brooks hears a life-changing secret. At the age of 17, he was separated from his family and taken to William Neyland's Texas plantation. There, she was forced to do housework at the violent whims of her slaves.
On that fateful day, he learns that slavery has recently been abolished, but Neyland conspires to keep this secret from the people he enslaved. Hearing this, Brooks burst out of his hiding place, declared his freedom, spread the news throughout the garden, and fled.
That night, she returns for her daughter,
Tempi. And before Neyland's hateful bullets could find them, they were gone for good.
For more than two centuries, slavery defined what the United States would become—from its past as 13 British colonies to its development as an independent nation. Slavery fueled its cotton industry and made it a major economic power. 10 of the first 12 presidents enslaved people.
And when American slavery finally ended, it was a long and bumpy process. Enslaved people resisted from the start—by running away, breaking tools, starting rebellions, and more.
During the American Revolution, Vermont and Massachusetts abolished slavery while many other states moved toward abolition. In 1808, federal law banned the importation of enslaved African people, but allowed the slave trade to continue locally.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, nearly four million people were enslaved in the United States. Lincoln opposed slavery, and although he had no plans to outlaw it, his election caused panic in the southern states, which began to withdraw from the Union.
They vowed to keep slavery and formed the Confederacy, which started the American Civil War. A year into the conflict, Lincoln abolished slavery in Washington, D.C., legally freeing more than 3,000 people. And five months later, he announced the Declaration of Independence.
He promised freedom to 3.5 million people enslaved in the Confederate States.
But this would only be accomplished if the rebel states did not rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863. And that's not to mention the nearly 500,000 enslaved people in the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri that 't seceded.
When the Confederacy refused to surrender, Union soldiers began declaring independence. But much of the South remained under Confederate control, making it impossible to implement abolition throughout the South.
The war continued for two more years, and on January 31, 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment. He promised to abolish slavery throughout America—except as a punishment for any crime. But to take effect, 27 states must first ratify it.
Meanwhile, the Civil War effectively ended on April 9, 1865, with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. But although slavery was technically illegal in all Southern states, it persisted in the last strongholds of the Confederacy.
There, slaves like Neyland continued to escape forced extermination.
Such was the case when Union General Gordon Granger marched his troops into Galveston, Texas on June 19 and declared that all enslaved people there were officially free—and had been for more than two years. Still, at this point, people remained legally enslaved in the border states.
Not more than five months later, on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment was finally ratified. This marked the formal end of chattel slavery in America.
Since official independence was a surprise act, people in different places celebrated it on different dates. Residents of Galveston, Texas began celebrating "Juneteenth" - a combination of "June" and "nineteenth" - on the first anniversary of General Granger's proclamation.
Over time, smaller Juneteenth gatherings gave way to larger parades.
And this tradition eventually became the most widespread in independence celebrations. But, while chattel slavery had officially ended, racial inequality, oppression, and terrorism had not.
Celebrating independence was itself an act of continuous resistance. And it wasn't until 2021 that Juneteenth became a federal holiday.
Today, June Tenth holds great significance as a continuing pledge to end slavery, the righteous pursuit of true freedom for all, and to remember the past and dream of the future.
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