History would say that the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 ended American chattel slavery thereby changing the legal status of the African prisoners of that forced labor system for good. Yet what is actually true is that emancipation on that day only freed the African slaves in the Confederate states. Slavery remained alive and well in Texas, due to the lack of the presence of Union troops whose responsibility it was to enforce the proclamation. Because Texas held onto slavery, many slaveholders relocated there along with their slaves and the slave population in Texas increased by tens of thousands.
While millions across the Confederacy rejoiced in their new-found freedom--a freedom prayed for, hoped for, cried for, moaned for, even fought for--still so many in Texas were not included in that freedom song for a very long time.
However on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the people of Texas were informed that they too, were indeed free. Lively celebrations of dancing and singing followed the pronouncement. Finally, every freed prisoner of the American slavery system could rejoice and let freedom ring!
This is what Juneteenth commemorates: the day when those enslaved in Texas received word of their freedom. In the midst of the celebrations however, remained a bittersweet reality, that this so-called freedom would still be laden with oppression and dehumanization. For those descended of the American slave system, life continued to be permeated by inequality and injustice, a reality that remains ever present today, as those who were historically emancipated, still have not been fully delivered.