Major General Gordon Granger and thousands of Union soldiers would arrive on the coast of Galveston with news that the enslaved were free, nearly two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation.
"When the Union soldiers came into Galveston, they did not land on the beach side, but on the south side of Galveston, they had to come around into the bay," Samuel Collins said.
"Here at Pier 21 is where many of the ships docked in 1865," he said.
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Collins, a historian, has generational ties to Texas and years of pushing to keep Juneteenth and Black stories alive. He is also a volunteer with the Nia Cultural Center.
"My family history goes back to 1837 here in Texas. I'm a seventh-generation Texan. We've been here," Collins said.
Collins says that upon the soldiers' and Granger's arrival in Galveston, they moved inland to downtown on The Strand to set up headquarters.
"Major General Gordon Granger set up his headquarters at the southwest corner of 22nd and Strand," he said. "From that point, after issuing General Order No. 3, the soldiers moved throughout the city and then further inland into the interior of Texas where the large plantations were."
In the 19th century, Galveston was the commercial center of Texas. The buying and selling of enslaved people were vital to the economy.
"Almost 80% of the records show that enslaved people coming into Texas ship were coming through the port of Galveston," Collins said.
Much of the city's history of slavery is kept inside the Rosenberg Library and the Galveston & Texas History Center, from historic city views and slave deeds to exhibits featuring photos of living quarters.
Seeing Juneteenth as a federal holiday is a full-circle moment for those who live on the island.
"When I look at Juneteenth, I look at it as a remembrance of our history and still what we're going through today. Because the struggle against us is still going on, and we have to remain mindful of where we come from and where we are today," Johnnie Moses said.
"Juneteenth celebrates the evolution of our country to a more perfect union. So, while we were not perfect in 1865, Juneteenth moved us to becoming a more perfect union," Collins added.
In 2025, the fight for, as he says, "absolute equality" continues.
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"General Order No. 3 states at the end of the first sentence, 'All slaves are free,' but then in the second sentence, it says this involves absolute equality. So, when you think about the words, equality and absolute, we're still marching forward to that absolute equality," Collins added.
He adds that it's important to ensure the right history is told, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
"I often use the analogy of green salad. The stories we have been taught are the lettuce and tomato stories. But this history salad includes croutons, bacon bits, olives, and pickles. And as we add additional narratives, we add flavor to this history to make sure that all of the history is included," he said.
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