The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.1
This horn belonged to William B. Randolph who was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1840-1842 and died in Bolivar County, MS, in 1927. According to his grandson who donated the horn, William B. Randolph blew the horn every morning to awaken slaves living on the Andrew Jackson Donelson, Jr. plantation in Bolivar County. Accession number: 1986.52.1 (Museum Division Collection)
Known as “the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States,” June 19 (“Juneteenth”) has been celebrated around the country since its historical beginnings in 1865. Although President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery in designated states on January 1, 1863, emancipation did not occur in practice in Texas until June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of the Civil War and slavery. Although the proclamation didn’t free all slaves, it “spelled the end of bondage for any slaves who escaped to Union troops.”2 There are various traditions about the two-and-a-half-year delay in official emancipation, but most believe that the delay allowed plantation owners to yield one more crop.3
This patent model of an improved screw press was made by Peter R. Campbell who was a former slave of Joseph Davis. Born into slavery in 1841, Campbell continued to live at Hurricane Plantation, Davis Bend in Warren County after the war and was awarded the patent on April 1, 1879. Accession number: 1980.3.3 (Museum Division Collection)
With newfound freedom, blacks across the country commemorated the occasion with festivities. Some of the first Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. They often included picnics, baseball, games, general socializing, and inspirational messages from speakers. Festivities in each city varied, following no set pattern, but the most common type featured a day-long affair beginning at 10:00 a.m. and ending at 1:00 p.m. the next day with suppers and dances. Juneteenth committees were responsible for fundraising and publicity were composed of “outstanding black citizens,” such as school principals and ministers. Juneteenth was even considered a quasi-holiday in some areas.4 Celebrations began to decline as the second wave of African Americans moved to northern states during the 1930s and 1940s. However they resurged during the Civil Rights Movement as blacks connected their demands for full citizenship with their enslaved ancestors’ freedom struggle. Festivities still continue across the country, including in Mississippi.
