Barbara Lee: “That sounds like my great- grandmother Fanny, who I did not know, but my grandfather spoke of her. I am certain that she…”

“That sounds like my great- grandmother Fanny, who I did not know, but my grandfather spoke of her. I am certain that she was part of that. As I listened to my colleague and looked more into my personal family history, Galveston, certainly, is in my spirit. I guess that is why each and every year since I was a child, we continued to celebrate Juneteenth as our liberation day, our emancipation day. Historically, we generally recognize January 1, 1863, the date when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, as the end of chattel slavery of African Americans in the United States. However, for generations, African-American communities have been celebrating June 19 as a symbolic date representing our freedom from enslavement. As Congresswoman Jackson Lee mentioned, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to announce the end of the Civil War. He also declared that the enslaved Africans were now equal in personal rights to that of their former masters, ending the inhumane, barbaric subjugation of African Americans as property that still continued 2\1/ 2\ years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Again, we are not far removed from this history. Citing my grandfather, I have to call his name: Mr. W.C. Parish, William Calhoun Parish. He was born in Galveston, just 10 years after Granger's Juneteenth announcement. Black Texans began celebrating Juneteenth the following year, and year after year for the last 150-plus years.…”