Editorial by David Landriault
Freedom Came Here First: Galveston and the Birth of Juneteenth
The word of freedom reached the whole of Texas through this port, on these streets, in this town.
On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger stepped ashore in Galveston and changed the course of Texas history. With General Order No. 3, he delivered news that should have arrived two and a half years earlier: all enslaved people in Texas were finally free. This moment—this island—gave birth to Juneteenth, a day now celebrated nationwide, but one that was born right here.
Emancipation Day, Richmond, VA
Key Facts
- The Event: On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, declaring all enslaved people in Texas free
- The Delay: The Emancipation Proclamation was signed January 1, 1863, but Texas—at the far edge of the Confederacy—didn’t receive the news for 2.5 years
- The Impact: Over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas gained freedom this day
- The Language: The order declared “an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves”
- The Legacy: Galveston made Juneteenth official—Texas Rep. Al Edwards passed the bill in 1979; it became a federal holiday in 2021
- The Landmarks: Reedy Chapel A.M.E. (founded 1848), the “Absolute Equality” mural on the Strand (dedicated 2021), and Ashton Villa (annual reading of the order since 1979)
~ David Landraiult
An 1839 Editorial: June 19th, 2026
June 19, 1865: The Day Texas Finally Heard the Word
On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger came ashore in Galveston and issued General Order No. 3. Its opening words were plain, and they were final:
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
The Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two and a half years earlier. But Texas sat at the far edge of the Confederacy, beyond the reach of the Union army, and slavery had continued here as though nothing had changed. For more than 250,000 enslaved people in this state, freedom did not arrive with Lincoln’s pen in 1863. It arrived with General Granger’s order, read aloud in Galveston in 1865.
That is the reason Juneteenth — June Nineteenth — is not a holiday that simply happens to be observed in Galveston. It is a holiday that was born here.
The order carried a phrase worth reading slowly, because the country is still working to live up to it. It declared “an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.” Absolute equality. Written down, in Galveston, in 1865.
The places where it happened are still standing. Reedy Chapel A.M.E., founded in 1848, was a gathering place for Galveston’s Black community before and after emancipation; it stood at the end of Granger’s route through the city, and freed men and women marched to it in the earliest celebrations of the day.
Over on the Strand, the 5,000-square-foot “Absolute Equality” mural — dedicated on Juneteenth 2021 by the Juneteenth Legacy Project — now marks the spot where the order was read. And each year on the lawn of Ashton Villa on Broadway, General Order No. 3 is read aloud again, as it has been since the Galveston Juneteenth Committee began the tradition in 1979.
Galveston also did the work of making the day count beyond the island. It was a Texan — State Representative Al Edwards of Houston — who carried the bill that made Juneteenth the first emancipation holiday recognized by any state. It was signed into law in 1979 and first celebrated in 1980. Four decades later, in June 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday. The nation finally caught up to the day Texas had been keeping all along.
There is something fitting about all of this belonging to Galveston. This is an island that has always understood that history is not somewhere else — it is underfoot, in the buildings we pass every day, in the streets we drive without a second thought. Juneteenth is the proudest example we have. The word of freedom reached the whole of Texas through this port, on these streets, in this town.
This Friday, however you mark it — at the Freedom Walk, on the Ashton Villa lawn, in front of the mural, or simply in a quiet moment — remember that you are standing where it started.
Galveston didn’t just witness the end of slavery in Texas. Galveston is where the news of freedom was finally spoken out loud.
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David Landriault
Founder & Publisher, The 1839 · Principal, Falcontail Marketing & Design
David Landriault builds Galveston up — its businesses, its stories, and its future. He founded Falcontail Marketing & Design and, with his wife and partner Christy, The 1839, on a single belief: a community grows stronger when it can see itself clearly and choose its future with open eyes.
At Falcontail, he builds brands and campaigns for organizations large and small — from Stanford University to local mainstays like Sunflower Bakery & Café — work grounded less in flash than in doing the homework, getting the message right, and making the people he serves the ones who shine. The 1839 carries that purpose into the civic square: fair, fact-first journalism on the decisions that will shape the island, written so every Galvestonian can weigh them honestly, for themselves.
By temperament he is a builder and a connector — the one who reads the whole report, asks the harder question, and would rather solve the problem than take the credit. What drives him is simple: that Galveston gets the future it actually chooses, and that the people building it have someone in their corner.
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