In honor of Juneteenth, the Community-Driven Archives (CDA) team would like to take a moment to celebrate the day when slavery “officially” ended for all black people in the United States when Union army general Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation to the black people living and working in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865.
This unofficial American holiday, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Liberation Day, is the oldest celebration honoring this day and the end of what is known as chattel slavery in this country. On this day in 1865, General Granger read General Order Number 3 in which he stated “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with the Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
To learn more about the history of Juneteenth please click the following links: History of Juneteenth and What is Juneteenth?
Most do not know of Arizona’s connection to the American Civil War with the Battle of Picacho Pass which is considered the westernmost battle of the war. On April 15, 1862 at Picacho Peak a Union cavalry patrolling from California encountered a party of Confederate soldiers from Tucson and a battle ensued. Black people are represented in less than 1% of the archives in Arizona. Learn more about the work ASU Library Community-Driven Archives is doing to address that or check out some of the organizations who are specifically documenting the Black experience in Arizona:
- The Northwest Black History Committee
- Emancipation Arts, LLC
- African American Advisory Committee of Tempe, AZ
- The Dunbar Pavilion
Contact me, Jessica Salow, with feedback at Jessica.Salow@asu.edu, as I would love to hear from you your thoughts regarding the work we here at ASU are doing in community archiving around Arizona. We also want your feedback on what you would like to see from us in future blog posts. See you next week!