by These books will teach children of all ages about Juneteenth and help dismantle the structures and systems that have continued after emancipation.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring freedom for all enslaved people in the Confederate states. However, enslavers in the state of Texas did not comply with the Emancipation Proclamation, and with only a limited number of Union forces there, the proclamation was essentially unenforceable throughout the state.
To rectify this situation, Major General Gordon Granger, commanding officer of the District of Texas, arrived in Galveston, Texas with over 2,000 federal soldiers. On June 19, 1865, Granger announced General Order No. 3, proclaiming freedom for the 250,000 enslaved people in Texas and by doing so, every enslaved person in the U.S. finally knew that the institution of slavery had come to an end and they were free.
Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) commemorates this day and has been celebrated for generations. Here are some thought-provoking books to teach children of all ages about Juneteenth and the responsibility we all have, now more than ever, to dismantle the structures and systems that have continued after emancipation and to make America a place where every person is truly free.
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