This lesser-known celebration and anniversary has been gaining traction. I only heard about when I moved to Austin 20 years ago since it was mostly a Texas thing. Small wonder since this state was mostly eliminated from the Civil War thanks to Admiral Farragut cutting them off when he took New Orleans. The good part? Texas couldn’t contribute much to the Confederate effort (proving once again, they’re mostly a bunch of loud-mouth braggart, racist pussies). The downside? The state’s efforts to continue using slaves was unmolested even after Lee’s surrender two months earlier.
So US General Granger arrived in Galveston (this the largest city in the state until a hurricane at the turn of the century) to enforce the law. The following day he announced that all slaves were free as per Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Of course it wasn’t embraced readily, much like the Confederacy’s defeat 150 years ago…just watch the news lately.