AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds of people lined the streets in East Austin Saturday morning for the annual Central Texas Juneteenth Parade.
- Juneteenth is on June 19
- Celebrates Texas slaves learning of their freedom
- Saturday’s parade started on MLK Blvd.
Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. It commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It effectively ended slavery on January 1, 1863. But the proclamation had little effect in Texas until more than two years later.
On June 19, 1865 Union General Gordon Granger read General Orders No. 3 to the people of Galveston:
“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.”
Juneteenth falls on June 19 of each year.
Saturday’s parade route started at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Comal Street. It ended at Rosewood Avenue and Chestnut Avenue. Prior to the parade, people took part in a 2K Freedom Run/Walk.
