On January 1st 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in the midst of the Civil War. Slaves who lived within the borders of the Confederacy remained in bondage. Most never heard about the proclamation until the last days of the conflict; some only heard well after the war’s end – the basis of Juneteenth Celebration when freedom from slavery was proclaimed to the people of Galveston months after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Continue reading →