Juneteenth Holiday Spreading Across U.S.
By Associated Press

12:09 PM PDT, June 18, 2004

OKLAHOMA CITY — Although the Juneteenth holiday first came about across the Red River, Oklahoma is one 13 states to celebrate the June 19 holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in Texas.

…Today, Oklahoma and 12 other states have joined Texas in making Juneteenth an official state holiday. Some have talked about making the Juneteenth a national holiday.

The first Juneteenth celebration occurred in 1865, in Galveston, Texas, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed with news that the Civil War had ended and, along with it, slavery.

President Lincoln had issued the emancipation proclamation two and a half years earlier, but the union had no power to enforce it in Texas until Granger arrived.

Three decades later, black towns in Oklahoma were popping up and an effort to make Oklahoma an all-black state went as far as Congress.

Land prospectors advertised cheap land and freedom.

"It was an opportunity for them to escape from the racism in the South, an opportunity to prove themselves to whites," said Hannibal B. Johnson, historian and author of "Acres of Aspiration: The All Black Towns in Oklahoma."

About 50 black town sites remain, while only about a dozen are still thriving communities.