Juneteenth, which is June 19, is the day we commemorate the end of institutionalized slavery in Texas. It is a significant date in American history as well as the African American experience.
More specifically, it is the day in 1865 where Major Gen. Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued in January 1863. In other words, some African Americans remained enslaved two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted.
Can you imagine being subjected to insults, threats, inhumane demands, cruelty, beatings, subjugation and suffering, when you could have been free? Can you imagine not being able to move about, express your opinion or even ask a question? Can you imagine living in inhabitable conditions, where disease is rampant and medical care is scarce? This was the life of Black people who were enslaved and psychologically, socially and physically imprisoned.