KATY/BROOKSHIRE/SUGAR LAND (Covering Katy News)— Warm temperatures matched the welcoming attitudes of crowds at Juneteenth celebrations across Waller and Fort Bend counties Thursday through Saturday.
Juneteenth makes the end of slavery in the United States. The holiday specifically recognizes June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston and announced that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved people were free. This came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had officially freed slaves in Confederate states on January 1, 1863.
The delay between the Emancipation Proclamation and the news reaching Texas highlights how enforcement of emancipation was uneven across the South, particularly in remote areas with minimal Union troop presence. Texas was one of the last strongholds of slavery, and many enslaved people had not learned of their freedom until federal troops arrived to enforce it.
Katy celebrates with parade and festival
About 1,000 people attended the Katy African American Heritage Society parade and festival, Carmen Turner, Fort Bend County tax assessor-collector, served as grand marshal. The festival featured Jabeaux Jr. and the Zydeco Enforcers and free food…