When the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, it brought with it General Order No. 3 — news of emancipation that had been technically in effect for more than two years. For many enslaved Black people in Texas, that day marked the first official recognition of a freedom they had never been allowed to claim. Barney and Hester Smith, an elderly couple later interviewed by the Federal Writers’ Project, recalled the moment with quiet clarity. “Old master didn’t tell us,” Hester said. “We just heard from others. Then the soldiers came and we left.” Barney, once forced to walk cattle from Texas to Louisiana and back, remembered the disbelief: freedom had come, but with no land, no money, no home. Juneteenth, in that sense, was never just about liberation. It was about the delay. The gap between law and reality. Between what was promised and what was delivered. Read the full op ed by damiendavis at the link in bio. . . . 1 - Still from Arthur Jafa, Love Is The Messag...