Only recently established as a federal holiday, Juneteenth, has been celebrated for 158 years by African Americans whose personal stories and memories have been passed down from one generation to the next.

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation proclamation declaring the end of slavery in the United States, but this decree could not be fulfilled in states still under Confederate control. Freedom did not come to all until June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Texas and announced that the more than 250,000 black people still enslaved there were free by executive decree.

Local historian Reynauld Smith, a proud Texan, presents the history of the holiday and what it means to his family and ancestors--some of whom were enslaved in Texas when word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally arrived. Mr. Smith is a graduate of Tuskegee University in Alabama and was a Fulbright Fellow in Nairobi, Kenya as well as the recipient of the McGraw Hill prize for his leadership work on Global Education. He is proud of his meetings with many leading African Statesman including Nelson Mandela. He had a 37-year history teacher career in secondary schools across our region and in Texas.

History Happy Hour series is made possible in part by a generous contribution from Rob and Cheryl Crim.