Political Quotes

“Juneteenth, which is also known as Freedom Day, is the date on which 250,000 slaves living in Texas finally learned of their emancipation. And that occurred nearly 3 years after President Lincoln's historic Emancipation Proclamation. It was in 1865, on June 19, that Union General Gordon Granger led 2,000 troops into Galveston, TX, with news that the war had ended and that slavery had been abolished. He told the people of Texas: [T]hat 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. The celebrations that followed began a 140-year tradition. Today, all across the country, Americans of all races will celebrate with prayer, and picnics, food, family, and friends. We join them, here on the Senate floor, to celebrate the struggle for freedom and to honor the profound contributions of African Americans to our Nation's culture and history.”