Cooper family Juneteenth- day 167 (project 365// 6-16-13)

 I slept through the night after vending and spending the full day at the Cooper Family Juneteenth celebration and didn't post before sleeping .   I had a great time.   I saw many folks that I hadn't in a while, made new contacts and met new people, there was African dancing and drumming, Muslim bean pies (mmmm mmm) , Capoeria, gospel music, face painting , educational videos on Juneteenth,  vendors and so much more.   It was beautiful seeing people come together from different faiths and backgrounds  to celebrate the fact that we all have a common bond , that without the one's who came before us and made it through slavery and struggle we would not have the blessings or life that we do have.   Give thanks to the Cooper Family for continuing your fathers work and for all of your hard work and dedication to make it happen every year for your/our community.



A little info from the web:
 Though Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had minimal immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in the Confederate States of America.^[3] Texas, as a part of the Confederacy, was resistant to the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth commemorates June 18 and 19, 1865. June 18 is the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves.^[4] On June 19, 1865, while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”:

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.^[5]