Gonzales County celebrates Juneteenth with parades, picnics and proclamations

Juneteenth celebrations were held across the United States, including in Gonzales and Nixon, over the weekend.

Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, and its origins are traced back to the state of Texas.

Gonzales and Nixon had its Juneteenth celebrations in their respective communities; Kelly Roberts-Cooper, who organized the Nixon celebration, said this is an important holiday within the African-American community as they celebrate their ancestors being freed.

“I grew up in these small country towns like Nixon, Gillett, Poth, Stockdale, Gonzales and Seguin, celebrating the holiday. So we wanted to bring it back here [in Nixon] and represented here are many of the families that came last year,” Roberts-Cooper said.

In Gonzales, the Gonzales Main Street hosted its second annual Juneteenth Celebration at Texas Independence Square, and Edwards Association President David Tucy said it feels awesome to have Gonzales be part of a vibrant Juneteenth celebration.

On June 19, 1865, Union troops led by General Gordon Granger traveled to Galveston to inform the African-American community in the region that slavery had ended and the Emancipation Proclamation had freed them.

From the Texas A&M University-Galveston the proclamation states (https://www.tamug.edu/newsroom/2022articles/Juneteenth2022/Juneteenth-History.html):

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Today, the holiday is recognized as federal holiday; in 2021, Juneteenth was elevated to that status by bipartisan legislation.

In year two as a federal holiday, Tucy and Roberts-Cooper know how significant the journey has been for this holiday.

“That means that everybody can enjoy and celebrate Juneteenth and have a little time off as well. Because of the significance of the holiday. Being that it's a federal holiday is paramount and extremely significant for the nation.,” Tucy said.

Tucy recently visited Galveston where Juneteenth began, and visited the Aston Villon where the Proclamation was read, and he said to see that was amazing.

Roberts-Cooper, a 28-year Air Force veteran, would travel around the U.S. and tell people about Juneteenth’s origins and many people didn’t know about the holiday because it was a Texas thing.

“It’s our Texas thing because that's what we do. We get together, we barbecue, and we have a great time and we celebrate. And so when you see it nationally recognized, our little Texas, we like to call it, our Texas holiday. It's awesome.” Roberts-Cooper said.

Gonzales closed out its Juneteenth with a lighted parade and Mayor Steve Sucher made a proclamation that Juneteenth Light Parade would be known as the Eugene Wilson Sr. Juneteenth Lighted Parade.

“I would just like to add that this holiday is not only for the African-American community, it’s for everybody,” Tucy said.