Happy Juneteenth

Earlier this week, Governor Deval Patrick made Massachusetts the 25th state on the country to officially commemorate the end of slavery.

On January 1, 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, effectively ending slavery in the United States. As Union troops entered Confederate territory they enforced the executive order. While the Confederacy officially fell during January of 1865, the stretched Union army didn't make it to Texas until June of that year. On June 19, 1865 the Union army entered Galveston, Texas where General Gordon Granger publically announced the Proclamation. Reactions ranged from shock to celebration. The annual anniversary of Juneteenth has since spread from Galveston across the southern US all the way up to the Bay State.