num_pages: 152
description: Weaving together American history dramatic family chronicle and searing episodes of memoir Annette Gordon-Reeds On Juneteenth provides a historians view of the countrys long road to Juneteenth recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured in the century since from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond. All too aware of the stories of cowboys ranchers and oilmen that have long dominated the lore of the Lone Star State Gordon-Reedherself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas as early as the 1820sforges a new and profoundly truthful narrative of her home state with implications for us all.Combining personal anecdotes with poignant facts gleaned from the annals of American history Gordon-Reed shows how from the earliest presence of Black people in Texas to the day in Galveston on June 19 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of legalized slavery in the state African-Americans played an integral role in the Texas story.Reworking the traditional Alamo framework she powerfully demonstrates among other things that the slave- and race-based economy not only defined the fractious era of Texas independence but precipitated the Mexican-American War and indeed the Civil War itself.In its concision eloquence and clear presentation of history On Juneteenth vitally revises conventional renderings of Texas and national history. Especially now that the U.S. recognizes Juneteenth (June 19) as a national holiday On Juneteenth is both an essential account and a stark reminder that the fight for equality is exigent and ongoing.
language: English
title: On Juneteenth
publisher: Liveright