As the nation and Virginia prepares to celebrate Juneteenth, our new entry by Lauranett Lee takes a look at how the poignant celebration of the belated emancipation of the Black residents of Galveston, Texas, became a nationwide holiday incorporating a number of Freedom Day traditions, including those celebrated in Virginia.
And while Juneteenth lays claim to being the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, Virginia can lay claim to one of the first recorded celebrations of emancipation a full two and a half years before Juneteenth.
This isn’t surprising because if the enslaved residents of Galveston were among the last to taste emancipation on June 19, 1865 ten weeks after Robert E. Lee’s surrender effectively ended the Civil War enslaved Virginians were among the first. Exactly four years earlier, on June 19, 1861, three enslaved men who were being used in the Confederate war effort in Hampton self-emancipated to Fort Monroe,
Founder of Slave Dwelling Project among speakers at Fort Monroe s annual contraband slave decision commemoration dailypress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailypress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Seeking refuge from their captors, three enslaved men grabbed a boat and sailed from Sewell’s Point to the Union Army stronghold at Fort Monroe. Arriving at the main gate, the men were granted asylum and deemed “contraband of war” by commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler.
Fort Monroe should be a place that tells a detailed story about the landmark and the region, though parts will be uncomfortable, Fort Monroe Historical Society President Robert Kelly writes in a guest column.
Virginia wants to make Fort Wool island an avian habitat Historical groups say plan is for the birds msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.