[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15657]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               JUNETEENTH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JEB HENSARLING

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 19, 2003

  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, today Texans and people across America 
celebrate Juneteenth.
  On this day in 1865, Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon 
Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended. 
Two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation 
Proclamation, Texas slaves heard for the first time they were free.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no other land on earth like America, but we've 
had our share of failings. And we've had no greater failing than 
allowing slavery to exist in the land of the free.
  Here we are, 140 years later. And although we have made great 
progress, we still live in a color conscious society.
  We should all remember and aspire to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther 
King . . . to live in a nation where our children will not be judged by 
the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
  Juneteenth reminds us to live our lives toward that dream. To make a 
more perfect Union by making America more free.

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