The Two Juneteenths
There was a moment before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth, when enslaved Texans were set free and never told.
To fully grasp the meaning of June 19, 1865, we must first understand its context. Journey with me to 1820, to the land of the Karankawa Peoples in the land we now call, Texas.
In 1820, Spain granted Moses Austin a large swath of land in its northern Mexican territory. A year later, on his deathbed, he made his son, Stephen Austin, promise to make the land prosper. To Moses, the prosperity of Texas was dependent on enslaved labor. So, while Moses coughed his way to his death, Stephen stood by his bed and promised to bring as many enslaved people into Texan territory as possible. They would produce sugar and cotton for free.
Now, Mexico had been a slaveholding colony of Spain for 100 years before the U.S. ventured into slavocracy. In fact, the very first “20 and odd” Angolan men to be brought to the shores of Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619 were pirated off of a Portuguese slave ship bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico—a colony of Spain. So, Stephen Austin had every reason to believe his slavocratic dreams for Texan territory were in line with Spain’s.
Stephen put out a call to slaveholders throughout the South: Come to Texas to help cultivate the land. The more slaves you bring, the more land you get! Three hundred white families answered Austin’s call, bringing thousands of enslaved Africans with them. By 1826, a quarter of the people in the territory were enslaved and of African descent.
Meanwhile, Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, and on September 15, 1829, Mexico’s second president, Vicente Guerrero, a Black man, abolished slavery.
Yes, you read that right. Mexico, which held the Texan territory, abolished slavery in 1829.
So, Stephen Austin went to the Mexican legislature and lobbied his case to keep slavery and make it more stringent. Or, if they abolish slavery, to offer reparations to slaveholders for the loss of their “property.”
But Mexico wasn’t having it. Instead they declared:
Slavery is hereby abolished on today!
As of today, every child born in Mexico is free!
All other enslaved people must be set free within six months!
Slaveholders must set up their formerly enslaved people with land and tools to work their own land.
So, what did Stephen Austin do?
He went back to his Texan territory and told his white settlers to work around the law by calling their enslaved people “workers,” “family servants,” or “laborers.”
So, in 1829, 34 years before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved Texans were set free by Mexico—and never told.
By 1835, Texan slavocracy was an outlier in free Mexico, so the budding nation began to crack down on law-breaking slaveholders. White Texans rebelled at the Alamo, and the rest is history. They lost the battle at the Alamo, but ultimately won their independence from Mexico and the right to preserve slavocracy. Texas entered the Union the following year. Twenty years later, the Texans seceded and joined the Confederacy to preserve slavery.
Then, on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared that all enslaved people in rebelling territories were hereby free.
The myth is that our enslaved brothers and sisters in the far-off territory of Texas never got word that they were free. Scholars now believe they did hear word through telegraph messages, but freedom requires enforcement. There was no way to enforce their freedom. So, the people slaved Texan sugar and cotton for two more years.
Then, on June 19th, 1865—two months after the Confederacy folded at Appomattox—Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Texas, the last state in the Confederacy to surrender in the Civil War. He marched at least nine battalions of Black soldiers through the island of Galveston, where he stood on a balcony and announced to the enslaved there: You are free! You are free, indeed!
Can you imagine the people’s revelry?! On the day we now call Juneteenth, there was dancing and singing and weeping and praying and preaching and hooping and hollering. For more than 300 years, they had been crushed by the insatiable lust for economic and social supremacy. They had been set free before, but it did not stick. This time was different. This time, they had enforcement.
As I consider the meaning of Juneteenth for us today, I see the indomitable power of the soul force that demands freedom. I see the death-force of the quest for supremacy. And I see that none of us is free until all of us are free.
No American is free until every child has books that tell these stories in their classrooms.
No American is free until Voting Rights and political representation are restored in every precinct in every state across our Union.
No American is free until our nation’s broken immigration system is fixed, ICE is abolished, and illegal detention centers are demolished.
No American is free until our LGBTQIA+ neighbors and family members are equally protected by the law.
And no American is free until the image of God in all the people around the world can live free from the fear and consequences of imperial and colonial domination.
Juneteenth calls us to hold on. How long? … Not long.
The people are and will be free—free indeed.
Amen.
Correction: An earlier version identified Vicente Guerrero as the first president of Mexico. He was the nation’s second president. This has been corrected above.
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Fortune is the name of my first non-indigenous ancestor born on American soil. She bore the brunt of the nation’s first race, gender, and citizenship laws. As I trace my family’s story through succeeding generations, I show how American ideas, customs, and laws shaped and bound the path of my ancestors and so many others.
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Virtual Events
It was an honor to rejoin my friend, the incomparable Jen Hatmaker , on her “For the Love” Podcast! This Juneteenth episode is out now! I share the story of the two Juneteenths in that podcast. Also reflect on its connections to our fight for restored Voting Rights now. This was one of those conversations that lived with me for the entire week following our time together. Rich, raw, informed, connected, and beautiful. Do not miss this and make a plan now to share it with everyone you know! It really is that good.
Listen anywhere you get your podcasts. Just search For The Love with Jen Hatmaker! Also, leave a comment here and I’ll send it your way. ;)
Upcoming In-Person Events
Thursday-Sunday, September 3-6, 2026. Wild Goose Festival. Join me on Thursday, 9/3, for a full day of pre-festival Faith-Rooted Organizing Training with Jennifer Butler (founder and executive director, Faith in Democracy) and CeCe Jones Davis (national faith organizer and host of We Mend the World Podcast)! Plus, I will be on the mainstage in conversation with Grace Ji-Sun Kim and will record a live podcast with CeCe Jones Davis on her Zoom meetings with white folks considering leaving MAGA. (Harmony, NC) It’s going to be a super-full, super-fun time. Don’t miss it! Hope to see you there!
The Clearing is a national effort to seed and resource locally-rooted networks of mutual care across our country, through one-day retreats. The Clearing aims to equip communities with resources for economic and mental health resilience, as well as the spiritual connection with self and neighbors necessary to withstand the pressures of growing authoritarian rule and its economic impacts.
THE CLEARING: PHILADELPHIA: September 9, 2026. 9am-4pm ET.
This retreat is a pre-conference one-day gathering that is part of the Fishing Differently Conference, Sept 9-11, 2026, in Philadelphia, PA. Registrants can attend the Clearing-only or register for the larger conference. All are welcome. Convened by FreedomRoad.us. Sponsored by Oikos Institute for Social Impact.
THE CLEARING: RICHMOND: October 7, 2026. 9am-4pm ET.
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Amen!
Wow, this reframes my whitewashed understanding of the Alamo. Thanks for sharing your knowledge that pulls the curtain back.