06/19/2025
Our office is closed today as we honor Juneteenth. We will reopen tomorrow.
The Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863. However states still under Confederate control did not honor or abide by this decision. Freedom for all slaves finally came on June 19, 1865, when roughly 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree.
History is not been to comfortable nor is it meant to be shaming or used as a weapon. It is meant to be shared and learned. In turn we can let it guide our actions and thoughts for the future. If we don’t know what happened to those in the past and why, we will not only repeat the past grievances but miss out on the joy and achievement of those who have come before us.
Happy Juneteenth.
We invite you to visit the Smithsonian website for more information.
Juneteenth is an often overlooked event in our nation’s history. On June 19, 1865, Union troops freed enslaved African Americans in Galveston Bay and across Texas some two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
