TSLA celebrates the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth

June 19, 1865, now commonly referred to as Juneteenth, commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 and it became effective on January 1, 1863, it did not impact Texas in the same way it did other southern states. Texas was isolated geographically, it was not a battleground, and there were few federal troops there to enforce the emancipation. Slaveholders often migrated there from eastern states to escape the war and brought their slaves with them.

News of the war’s end did not reach Texas until May 1865 - and the Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not surrender until June. On June 18 of that year, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with federal troops to occupy Texas on the federal government’s behalf, and on June 19, by reading aloud General Order No. 3, he announced the total emancipation of slaves.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth. In recognition of this historic commemoration, we share this image of Nancy Bradford, pictured around 1930. Bradford was the last former slave in the Dandridge, Tennessee area. She was born January 4, 1851, and was a nurse to a local family after the conclusion of the Civil War.

Image credit: "Looking Back At Tennessee"
Tennessee State Library and Archives Photo Collection.
Image source: http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/citation.php?ImageID=9001

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.