On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed, is part history and memoir by an insider, an African American’s prospective on Texas by a Texan. The author, Annette Gordon-Reed, is a proud Texan, because her family’s roots are in the state. It’s where her family has been for generations – It has been, and is, their home. But because of her family’s African heritage, she also is aware and mindful of the more layered history of the state of Texas and what was for generations an African American holiday in Texas, Juneteenth.
June 19th, 1865, shortened to Juneteenth, was the day that African Americans, held under the yoke of slavery, were told that they were free. It was two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1865) and two months after the Confederate forces surrendered to the Union forces at Appomattox, Virginia. Major General Gordon Granger of the United States Army, arrived in Galveston Texas and issued General Order No. 3, which stated that all slaves were free with equality of personal and property rights and the relationship between master and slave was now employer and employee (do I have to tell you guys that the part in italics became a problem?)
The author relates the history of Texas and its racism toward people of color and especially those of African descent. Texas was formed by white settlers, who were originally welcomed by Mexican residents of the area (Tejanos) and the government of Mexico who wanted aid and protection against Native Americans. The white Texans, who embraced the enslavement of Africans and refused to end the practice, later fought against their Mexican allies to secede as an independent territory in 1836. This new Texan republic’s constitution welcomed all free white people with their slaves, said that all slaves would continue to be slaves in perpetuity, and excluded all free Africans and Indians from citizenship and privileges. Years later, in 1845, Texas would join the United States as a slave state and later, secede to form the Confederacy.
Put simply by the author, “Texas is a White Man”. They decided who claimed the country as their own and who had the right to be a citizen – they had the power and wrote the state’s constitution after all, solidifying their beliefs, enslaving others for generations. The author points out that General Order No. 3 was based on the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves “in states rebelling against the Union”. So, it only affected states in the Confederacy – ten in all – South and North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Arkansas, and Texas. Slavery was still legal in slave states that did not secede – Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware! Slavery was not abolished in all states until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the necessary number of states (be aware, not all states ratified this amendment originally). And may I point out, even this amendment had an exception – “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the US, or place subject to their jurisdiction”. The 13th Amendment stands as is to this day.
So, given this history, it is no surprise that white Texans resisted freeing their slaves or treating the African with any type of respect or equality. They believed that the African was inferior, and being enslaved to the superior race was a natural condition. The free labor of Blacks was intertwined with the success of the white economy of Texas. The author gives a history of the violence and discrimination of Black people and her family’s in the state of Texas throughout the years and after slavery as common practice, and how the holiday of Juneteenth was celebrated among Black Texans for generations.
This book gives an informative, interesting, personal family account of the history of Juneteenth in Texas and Texas itself. There is definitely more than one version of history, depending on who is telling it. This book is filled with personal, family, and local narratives from the author that gives a truly valuable, interesting inside view of history. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed is really an excellent read!