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FEATURE
Two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln
signed the Emancipation Proclamation there remained
enslaved people in the United States.
Although Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had
surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9,
1865, slaver y remained relatively unaffected in Texas,
according to T V 's Histor y Channel.
The Emancipation Proclamation applied only to places
under Confederate control and not to slave-holding
border states or rebel areas under Union control, such
as Texas.
Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some
2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay. The Army
announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black
people in the state were free by executive decree. The
day came to be known as "Juneteenth" by the newly freed
people in Texas, according to the Histor y Channel.
Juneteenth is short for "June Nineteenth" and is
considered the longest-running African American holiday.
On June 17, 2021, it became an official federal holiday.
Fayetteville will celebrate Juneteenth Jubilee on June
17-18 at Festival Park downtown.
From 3 to 9 p.m. July 17, Cool Spring Downtown District
will present an old-school skate jam, more than 90
vendors and food trucks, and musical headliners Rose
Royce and the FatBack Band.
From 2 to 6 p.m. June 18, multiple Grammy Award winner
and "Soul Train" gospel recording artist Tye Tribbett will
perform.
For more information, go to visitdowntownfayetteville.
com or call 910-223-1089
A celebration of freedom