Department of History

Dr. Alaina Roberts Discusses the Importance of Juneteenth

t happened on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, at the end of the Civil War.

Union General Gordon Granger and his troops entered the city and issued an order.

“Union General Granger arrives in Galveston, Texas,” says historian Alaina Roberts, “and read General Order Number 3, which informed enslaved people they were free and informed their owners that they had to stop forcibly holding them in bondage.”

See the clip here.