Speaker 1: Right now, It's time for the Way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: And Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major
Speaker 1: Threads for Innovative, Fashionable sports whear checkmajorthreads dot com and
Speaker 1: today I'm going to share with you from the National
Speaker 1: Museum of African American History and Culture. On June nineteenth,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five, nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 1: emancipated enslaved Africans in America, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay,
Speaker 1: Texas with news of freedom. More than two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand African Americans embraced freedom by executive decree in
Speaker 1: what became known as June teenth, or Freedom Day, with
Speaker 1: the principles of self determination, citizenship, and democracy magnifying their
Speaker 1: hopes and dreams. Those Texans held fast to the promise
Speaker 1: of true liberty for all. I think that's beautiful. Hope
Speaker 1: is beautiful. Hope is beautiful.
Speaker 2: I know you, I know we're not there yet. That
Speaker 2: hope is beautiful. It's a beautiful thing to have, right.
Speaker 2: And you got to imagine your whole life is a slave.
Speaker 2: You hear this news, you know that's not nothing. This
Speaker 2: is whole got to be a good day and instilled
Speaker 2: in eighteen hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 1: Well, we're looking at we are still in pursuit of yeah,
Speaker 1: by the way, and we're looking back on it. But
Speaker 1: in that moment, I just my heart swells for the
Speaker 1: people that got this news. All right, let me hear
Speaker 1: you up on Freedom Zeve, or the eve of January first,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three, the first watch Night services took place.
Speaker 1: On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in
Speaker 1: churches and private homes across the country, awaiting news that
Speaker 1: the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect, that the stroke of
Speaker 1: midnight prayers were answered, and as all enslaved people in
Speaker 1: Confederate States were declared legally free, Union soldiers, many of
Speaker 1: whom were black, marched onto plantations and across cities in
Speaker 1: the South, reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation, spreading
Speaker 1: the news of freedom in Confederate States. Only through the
Speaker 1: Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation of en slavery throughout the United States. Quote,
Speaker 1: the people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with
Speaker 1: a proclamation from the ex Executive of the United States,
Speaker 1: all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of
Speaker 1: rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves,
Speaker 1: and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between
Speaker 1: employer and hired laborer. This is from Gordon Granger, a
Speaker 1: Union general, on June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five. But not
Speaker 1: everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though
Speaker 1: the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in eighteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: it cannot be implemented in places still under Confederate control.
Speaker 1: As a result, in the western most Confederate state of Texas,
Speaker 1: and slave people would not be free until much later.
Speaker 1: Freedom finally came on June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, when
Speaker 1: some two thousand Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas.
Speaker 1: The army announced that the more than two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand enslaved black people in the state were free
Speaker 1: by executive decree. This day came to be known as
Speaker 1: June teenth by the newly freed people in Texas. The
Speaker 1: post emancipation period, known as recon Instruction eighteen sixty five
Speaker 1: to eighteen seventy seven, marked an era of great hope, uncertainty,
Speaker 1: and struggle for the nation as a whole. Formerly enslaved
Speaker 1: people immediately sought to reunify families, established schools, run for
Speaker 1: political office, push radical legislation, and even sue slaveholders for compensation.
Speaker 1: Given the two hundred plus years of enslavement, such changes
Speaker 1: were nothing short of amazing. Not even a generation out
Speaker 1: of slavery, African Americans were inspired and empowered to transform
Speaker 1: their lives and their country. Juneteenth marks our country's second
Speaker 1: independence Day. Although it is long celebrated in the African
Speaker 1: American community, this monumental event remains largely unknown to most Americans,
Speaker 1: at least as of a couple of years ago. For
Speaker 1: the nearly four million newly freed, newly freed, education was
Speaker 1: a crucial first step to becoming self sufficient. Between eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty one and nineteen hundred, more than ninety institutions of
Speaker 1: higher education were founded for African Americans, and you can
Speaker 1: find more at NMAAHC, DO SI dot edu