Beyond Granger: Honoring the Black soldiers who enforced freedom on Juneteenth
As the nation continues to recognize Juneteenth, historians say the role Black soldiers played in enforcing emancipation in Texas is often overlooked. Those troops helped secure Union victory and freedom for enslaved people while simultaneously enduring racism, unequal treatment and emotional hardship within the Union Army itself. The post Beyond Granger: Honoring the Black soldiers who enforced freedom on Juneteenth appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
Black News 
By Victoria Mejicanos
AFRO Staff Writer
vmejicanos@afro.com
Discussions regarding Juneteenth often center on Union General Gordon Granger and his reading of General Order No. 3, but less attention is paid to Black soldiers who were with him in Galveston, Texas, helping enforce the end of slavery.
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Historians who spoke with the AFRO say that by June 19, 1865, many of the Black Union troops had already been through brutal combat, racist treatment, unequal pay and were still navigating those conditions even after white soldiers were allowed to return home.
Dr. Hilary Green, the James B. Duke professor of Africana Studies at Davidson College, shared that many of the Black soldiers stationed in Texas wanted to return home, sending petitions to Washington, D.C. She also outlined the treatment they were facing.
“ white officers who are not necessarily pro-Black soldiers,” said Davidson. “So you still see some violence. You still see some racism of the lingering white soldiers out there who do not respect these Black men in uniform, and more importantly, you do have civilians– in particular, white civilians– who actually see these black soldiers as legitimate.”
Green said that placing Black soldiers at the forefront of Juneteenth demonstrates the revolutionary nature of the Civil War because it decenters whiteness and makes it clear that Black soldiers helped defeat the Confederacy, which was deeply committed to slavery.
“This was a war in which Black soldiers allowed for federal victory,” Green.“Without Black soldiers, you can’t have an end of the Civil War.”
According to the National Park Service, 2,000 troops accompanied General Granger to Galveston. Green said that while General Robert. E. Lee had already surrendered, many people didn’t believe what they heard.
For Black troops sent to Texas after fighting in Virginia, the assignment was both historic and deeply frustrating. While many white soldiers were allowed to return home, Black regiments remained stationed in Texas. The presence of Black troops in Texas created a stark contradiction: soldiers who were denied equal treatment themselves were now responsible for enforcing freedom for others.
“That reversal causes a lot of violence directed to those Black soldiers, but for Black Texans and those who are seeing these men enforcing emancipation and ending the Confederacy, they are praised and seen as liberators,” said Green.
For Dr. Holly Pinheiro Jr., whose research focuses on free Black Northern families during the Civil War, Juneteenth reveals the emotional toll Black soldiers carried while serving.
“ psychological, emotional trauma that is impacting these people who are both liberators, but human beings who have their own struggles dealing with racism,” said Pinhiero Jr.
Part of the emotional toll for Black soldiers in the Civil War came from having the life-changing impact of freeing an enslaved person, while also navigating challenges of the war, such as unfair wages. This issue was compounded after the war because veterans returned with diseases that gave them lifelong disabilities due to unequal working conditions. None of which would have been known without the record-keeping and memory of their loved ones.
“Part of it is–from my experience–pension records,” said Pinheiro Jr. “It’s the wives, it’s the daughters, it’s the cousins and the sons, but the women in these soldiers’ orbits that are demanding that we never forget.”
Both historians said that including Black soldiers in the story of Juneteenth can change how Americans understand both freedom and the Civil War itself, shifting focus away from Confederate generals and toward the Black troops and families who helped secure emancipation.
The post Beyond Granger: Honoring the Black soldiers who enforced freedom on Juneteenth appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
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