The Backstory: Juneteenth: The Evolution of Freedom
This time of year, we're reminded that freedom is what America is all about. But as recently as 1972, there was still a living person who had been born into slavery. And another man lived to share his story of the very first Juneteenth . . . when freedom was finally brought to every state in the Union.
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Speaker 1: Of course, America celebrates freedom on July fourth, Independence Day,
Speaker 1: but we also celebrate it on June nineteenth, when the
Speaker 1: federal holiday June teenth is observed. That's a celebration of
Speaker 1: the end of legal human slavery in every state in
Speaker 1: the nation. But this story is actually a lot more
Speaker 1: complicated than you think. Imagine being told you're free, but
Speaker 1: two and a half years after freedom had already been declared.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most remarkable and painful chapters in
Speaker 1: American history. I'm Patty Steele. It wasn't that long ago.
Speaker 1: One formerly enslaved man lived until nineteen seventy two, and
Speaker 1: another shared his memories of the very first June teenth.
Speaker 1: That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Freedom
Speaker 1: is kind of a loaded word, mainly because it's really
Speaker 1: an evolutionary process. Okay, it's January first, eighteen sixty three.
Speaker 1: The US is in the middle of the brutal Civil War,
Speaker 1: which eventually kills as many as seven hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand Americans, more than World War I and World War
Speaker 1: iiO combined. On this New Year's Day, President Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 1: issues one of the most famous documents in American history
Speaker 1: the Emancipation Proclamation. It declares that enslaved people in the
Speaker 1: Confederate States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. But
Speaker 1: here's the catch. Lincoln's proclamation could only be enforced where
Speaker 1: Union troops had control, so in places still controlled by Confederates,
Speaker 1: slavery continues, and Texas is at the top of that list.
Speaker 1: Texas had become the place to go for slaveholders during
Speaker 1: the war. A lot of plantation owners from southern states
Speaker 1: in the East moved there. They believed the conflict would
Speaker 1: never reach them. They brought literally thousands of enslaved people
Speaker 1: with them. Then the war ended. On April ninth, eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty five, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union
Speaker 1: General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. The Confederacy
Speaker 1: had collapsed, but wait in Texas, slavery still exists. Weeks
Speaker 1: pass then months. For a lot of enslaved people there,
Speaker 1: freedom was just a rumor. By eighteen sixty five, around
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand African Americans living in slavery
Speaker 1: were living in Texas. One of them was Preley Coleman.
Speaker 1: He was born around eighteen fifty two on a farm
Speaker 1: near Newbury's, South Carolina. Now, the problem is his mother
Speaker 1: was a slave, but his father was the son of
Speaker 1: the landowner, so the family decided to sell Preeley's mother
Speaker 1: and the new baby to another farmer who was headed
Speaker 1: west to Texas. Preeley was just one month old when
Speaker 1: he and his mother left South Carolina. They never went back.
Speaker 1: He spoke of his life as a little boy in Texas,
Speaker 1: working in the fields, but also playing with friends. He
Speaker 1: said Union soldiers would occasionally ride through the farm and
Speaker 1: would stop to camp. They'd play games with the children
Speaker 1: and give them coins. Preeley said his new owner was
Speaker 1: a decent man who made sure the workers all had shoes.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't freedom until June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: a full two and a half years after the Emancipation
Speaker 1: Proclamation had been signed. On that day, Union forces led
Speaker 1: by General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas. The General
Speaker 1: issued what was known as General Order number three. The
Speaker 1: people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a
Speaker 1: proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves
Speaker 1: are free. The war had ended, and slavery finally ended,
Speaker 1: even in the Southern States. Imagine hearing those words, having
Speaker 1: never known freedom. It was stunning but also confusing. Where
Speaker 1: it is some people dropped to their knees in prayer.
Speaker 1: Others laughed, cried, or said we stood in silence. After
Speaker 1: generations of bondage, freedom had finally arrived. Preeley said. He
Speaker 1: vividly remembers when freedom came. We were in the field
Speaker 1: and our master comes up and says, you all are free,
Speaker 1: as free as I am. There was shouting and singing.
Speaker 1: But even after emancipation, newly freed African Americans faced huge
Speaker 1: obstacles poverty, violence, discrimination, and just trying to build new
Speaker 1: lives from nothing. Yet even with those hardships, something amazing
Speaker 1: happened the following year. In eighteen sixty six, formerly enslaved
Speaker 1: Texans gathered to celebrate the anniversary of their freedom. They prayed, sang,
Speaker 1: shared meals, they held parades, and read aloud the Emancipation Proclamation.
Speaker 1: The gatherings continued and became known as June teenth, a
Speaker 1: blend of the words June and nineteenth. Every June teenth, Galveston, Texas,
Speaker 1: remembers that day in eighteen sixty five when General Granger's
Speaker 1: words changed countless lives. The people of Texas are informed.
Speaker 1: All slaves are free. Simple words, but powerful. The last
Speaker 1: surviving person who was born into slavery in the US
Speaker 1: was Peter Mills, who was born in eighteen sixty one.
Speaker 1: He died at the age of one hundred ten in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. That's within our grasp. It's not that
Speaker 1: long ago. June teenth is ultimately the story of delayed
Speaker 1: freedom and enduring hope that can still change history. The
Speaker 1: story reminds us that freedom is not a single event.
Speaker 1: It's a journey that requires constant effort to protect and expand.
Speaker 1: Preley Coleman was around eighty five years old when he
Speaker 1: told his story in his own words. In the late
Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, the WPA's Slave Narrative Project got underway, and
Speaker 1: Preeley's remembrance was one of thousands of first person testimonies
Speaker 1: collected from formerly enslaved Americans before those voices were lost forever.
Speaker 1: He opened his narrative with the words, I'm Preley Coleman,
Speaker 1: and I never get tired of talking. Yes, ma'am, today
Speaker 1: is juneteenth. I'm too old now to go to the celebrations,
Speaker 1: but I remember it well. Preley Coleman died in nineteen
Speaker 1: forty in Cherokee County, Texas. The Federal Writers Project Slave
Speaker 1: Narrative Collection is preserved at the Library of Congress. Special
Speaker 1: thanks to Steve Kingston for helping me with this story.
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Speaker 1: me if you have a story you'd like me to cover.
Speaker 1: On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia,
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Speaker 1: Our producer is Mike Paeseglia. Our writer is Jake Kushner.
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Speaker 1: at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with
Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't know you
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