Answers to Go

San Marcos Public Library

625 E. Hopkins St.

512-393-8200

Q. This month we celebrate Juneteenth. Can you give me more information about this holiday, especially about celebrations in San Marcos?

Juneteenth is A. celebrated on June 19 and marks the date in 1865 that Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to announce the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation came two and a half years earlier on Jan. 1, 1863, many enslavers continued to hold enslaved black people captive after the announcement, so Juneteenth became the nation’s second independence day. (Higgins)

Gen. Granger’s announcement, General Order 3, read:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, had legally freed enslaved people in Texas on Jan. 1, 1863. However, even after the general order, some enslavers withheld the information from their enslaved people, holding them through one more harvest season.

In San Marcos, the Juneteenth Foundation, Inc. will host a charity barbecue cook-off on Friday, June 17 from 1 to 9 p.m., and Saturday June 18 from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Plaza Park on the River, 206 N. C.M. Allen Pkwy.

On Saturday, June 18, the Juneteenth Foundation invites the community to its Juneteenth Unity Walk. Lineup for the walk begins at 9 a.m. at the intersection of LBJ and MLK. The walk will begin at 10 a.m. and will proceed to Dunbar Park. For a map of the route, visit juneteenthfoundationinc.org/. At Dunbar Park, there will be special guests who will bless the event and there will be a special presentation honoring Juneteenth History.

At the end of the presentation, everyone is encouraged go the barbecue cook-off at Plaza Park.

For more information about the history of Juneteenth, check out these books and more at the library:

• “Juneteenth: the story behind the celebration” by Cotham, Edward T.

• “On Juneteenth” by Gordon-Reed, Annette

• “Juneteenth Texas: essays in African-American folklore”

• “Lone Star unionism, dissent, and resistance: other sides of Civil War Texas”

• Higgins, M., & Smith, E. M. (2021, June 21). “Juneteenth: Fact sheet. Congressional Research Service.” Retrieved May 28 from sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/ R44865.pdf

Suzanne Sanders is the columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.