The Backstory: Juneteenth: The Evolution of Freedom

This time of year, we're reminded that freedom is what America is all about. But as recently as 1972, there was still a living person who had been born into slavery. And another man lived to share his story of the very first Juneteenth . . . when freedom was finally brought to every state in the Union.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you'd like me to cover . . . on Facebook, it's Patty Steele, and on Instagram, it's Real Patty Steele.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Of course, America celebrates freedom on July fourth, Independence Day,
but we also celebrate it on June nineteenth, when the
federal holiday June teenth is observed. That's a celebration of
the end of legal human slavery in every state in
the nation. But this story is actually a lot more
complicated than you think. Imagine being told you're free, but

(00:22):
two and a half years after freedom had already been declared.
It's one of the most remarkable and painful chapters in
American history. I'm Patty Steele. It wasn't that long ago.
One formerly enslaved man lived until nineteen seventy two, and
another shared his memories of the very first June teenth.
That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Freedom

(00:49):
is kind of a loaded word, mainly because it's really
an evolutionary process. Okay, it's January first, eighteen sixty three.
The US is in the middle of the brutal Civil War,
which eventually kills as many as seven hundred and fifty
thousand Americans, more than World War I and World War
iiO combined. On this New Year's Day, President Abraham Lincoln

(01:12):
issues one of the most famous documents in American history
the Emancipation Proclamation. It declares that enslaved people in the
Confederate States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. But
here's the catch. Lincoln's proclamation could only be enforced where
Union troops had control, so in places still controlled by Confederates,

(01:35):
slavery continues, and Texas is at the top of that list.
Texas had become the place to go for slaveholders during
the war. A lot of plantation owners from southern states
in the East moved there. They believed the conflict would
never reach them. They brought literally thousands of enslaved people
with them. Then the war ended. On April ninth, eighteen

(01:59):
sixty five, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union
General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. The Confederacy
had collapsed, but wait in Texas, slavery still exists. Weeks
pass then months. For a lot of enslaved people there,
freedom was just a rumor. By eighteen sixty five, around

(02:21):
two hundred and fifty thousand African Americans living in slavery
were living in Texas. One of them was Preley Coleman.
He was born around eighteen fifty two on a farm
near Newbury's, South Carolina. Now, the problem is his mother
was a slave, but his father was the son of
the landowner, so the family decided to sell Preeley's mother

(02:44):
and the new baby to another farmer who was headed
west to Texas. Preeley was just one month old when
he and his mother left South Carolina. They never went back.
He spoke of his life as a little boy in Texas,
working in the fields, but also playing with friends. He
said Union soldiers would occasionally ride through the farm and
would stop to camp. They'd play games with the children

(03:07):
and give them coins. Preeley said his new owner was
a decent man who made sure the workers all had shoes.
But it wasn't freedom until June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five,
a full two and a half years after the Emancipation
Proclamation had been signed. On that day, Union forces led
by General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas. The General

(03:30):
issued what was known as General Order number three. The
people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a
proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves
are free. The war had ended, and slavery finally ended,
even in the Southern States. Imagine hearing those words, having

(03:50):
never known freedom. It was stunning but also confusing. Where
it is some people dropped to their knees in prayer.
Others laughed, cried, or said we stood in silence. After
generations of bondage, freedom had finally arrived. Preeley said. He
vividly remembers when freedom came. We were in the field

(04:10):
and our master comes up and says, you all are free,
as free as I am. There was shouting and singing.
But even after emancipation, newly freed African Americans faced huge
obstacles poverty, violence, discrimination, and just trying to build new
lives from nothing. Yet even with those hardships, something amazing

(04:32):
happened the following year. In eighteen sixty six, formerly enslaved
Texans gathered to celebrate the anniversary of their freedom. They prayed, sang,
shared meals, they held parades, and read aloud the Emancipation Proclamation.
The gatherings continued and became known as June teenth, a
blend of the words June and nineteenth. Every June teenth, Galveston, Texas,

(04:57):
remembers that day in eighteen sixty five when General Granger's
words changed countless lives. The people of Texas are informed.
All slaves are free. Simple words, but powerful. The last
surviving person who was born into slavery in the US
was Peter Mills, who was born in eighteen sixty one.

(05:19):
He died at the age of one hundred ten in
nineteen seventy two. That's within our grasp. It's not that
long ago. June teenth is ultimately the story of delayed
freedom and enduring hope that can still change history. The
story reminds us that freedom is not a single event.
It's a journey that requires constant effort to protect and expand.

(05:43):
Preley Coleman was around eighty five years old when he
told his story in his own words. In the late
nineteen thirties, the WPA's Slave Narrative Project got underway, and
Preeley's remembrance was one of thousands of first person testimonies
collected from formerly enslaved Americans before those voices were lost forever.

(06:05):
He opened his narrative with the words, I'm Preley Coleman,
and I never get tired of talking. Yes, ma'am, today
is juneteenth. I'm too old now to go to the celebrations,
but I remember it well. Preley Coleman died in nineteen
forty in Cherokee County, Texas. The Federal Writers Project Slave
Narrative Collection is preserved at the Library of Congress. Special

(06:29):
thanks to Steve Kingston for helping me with this story.
I hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Please
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On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

(06:53):
I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia,
Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durant Group, and Steel Trap Productions.
Our producer is Mike Paeseglia. Our writer is Jake Kushner.
New episodes are out every Tuesday and Friday, and feel
free to reach out to me with comments and story
suggestions on Instagram at reel Patty Steele and on Facebook

(07:15):
at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with
Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't know you
needed to know