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Juneteenth: How news of the Emancipation Proclamation spread through the South
NPR • • nation
Key Points:
- Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, marking the event now commemorated as Juneteenth.
- The Emancipation Proclamation was originally issued on January 1, 1863, but news of it had circulated informally among enslaved people and others in the South well before Union troops enforced it.
- Enslaved people often learned about the proclamation through informal networks, including Black newspapers, abolitionist groups, and even from slaveholders who discussed it openly.
- The proclamation did not apply to border states that remained in the Union, causing frustration among enslaved people there, some of whom petitioned President Lincoln directly for freedom.
- Many enslaved individuals sought freedom by escaping to Union lines even before the proclamation, understanding that Union victory meant liberation, and Union soldiers played a key role in spreading news of emancipation.
