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TEXAS JUNETEENTH

9:00a to 2:00p
Sat, June 08, 2024
Chris Twing
(512) 837-1215

Freedom for enslaved Texans came two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing African-Americans in the rest of the country. The day of that announcement in the Lone Star State — June 19, 1865 — is now celebrated as Juneteenth!

Join us Saturday, June 8, to celebrate this important day in Texas history.

“Texas Juneteenth: Amazing History, Enduring Legacy” will feature readings of Union Gen. Gordon Granger’s proclamation in Galveston announcing that Texas slaves had their freedom, presentations about the history of Juneteenth and a special arts program.

The special program will start at 9 a.m. with tours of the Dodson House that is under restoration as the new Freeman’s history site to showcase the amazing successes and self-guided empowerment of formerly enslaved Texans in the decades after Emancipation, despite prevalent racism of the day.

From 10-11 a.m., a special hour-long program in our Wessels dance hall will feature the reading of the 1865 Emancipation Proclamation and a special arts program. The pre-Juneteenth program is designed to encourage the preservation of African American history in Central Texas, from bricks and mortar to the stories and music.

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