[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13194]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               JUNETEENTH

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are many times that this 
Nation has celebrated its freedom. One that comes to mind is the 
celebration after the Revolutionary War, then the celebration after 
Abraham Lincoln pronounced the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. But 
today I rise to celebrate Juneteenth, a holiday that is now celebrated 
across the Nation, but Texans and Louisianans know it well, for because 
the Union soldiers were too busy, the slaves in Texas, some 200,000, 
did not know of emancipation until 1865.
  When General Granger landed in Galveston, he read the words, ``The 
people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation 
from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free.'' And so 
this weekend on June 19, across the State of Texas and Louisiana and 
around the Nation, we celebrated freedom. We sang, we spoke about 
freedom and the preciousness of it. We thanked America for its values 
and belief in freedom.
  I would like to thank State Representative Al Edwards, a Texan and a 
constituent of my congressional district, who is known as the Father of 
Juneteenth. It is important to honor freedom wherever it is found.

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