2019 Quad City Juneteenth Festival

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union Soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation-which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on Texas due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger's regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance. Later, attempts to explain this two and a half year delay in the receipt of this important news have yielded several versions that have been handed down through the years. All or none…