Walking In The Footsteps Of My Ancestors In Galveston
Like many African Americans, I feel the history of my ancestors.
Maybe not the weight of waking up not free, separated from their home and sometimes their families, but I respect it and I want to know it. I am the fifth generation of enslaved people on my mom's side of the family. I hate typing that phrase. I wish I could erase that history as easily as I can hit the delete button on a keyboard and replace every moment of pain they endured with love and joy. Unfortunately, that's not the life or the world we live in.
Until we reach true equality, we must retell history and share the stories of the struggle of those who came before us, so we don't repeat it ever again.
I'm a proud Texan, and like many others native to the state, I grew up visiting Galveston, Texas.
As a young girl, going to Galveston meant being able to visit the beach, get wet, and play in the sand. For years, my family has been drawn to the island, staying for extended weekends at beach houses or hotels. We dined at some of our favorites like Gaidos and enjoyed beignets at the Gumbo Diner.
I still love Galveston, and as I've gotten older, I find something new the island has to offer with every visit. Sometimes, I imagine talking to the inanimate objects of the city like the historic homes along Broadway, the streets, and gazing through the eyes of the people who lived there. As I learned more about Juneteenth throughout the years, I began to realize that Galveston had so much more history to offer than I ever knew growing up.
Driving down Broadway, people are so magnetically drawn to the beach that sometimes they don't know how much history they are passing by.
We should all talk about Juneteenth more, and the best place to experience it and walk the footsteps of our ancestors is in Galveston, Texas.
From the harbor, I walked toward The Strand.
On the corner of 22nd and Strand stands a Juneteenth historical marker, placed by the Texas Historical Commission in 2014 at the former site of the Osterman Building, where General Order No. 3 was issued on June 19th, 1865. The building itself is gone, and a parking lot now stands in its place. Instead of paving over history, the community chose to highlight it. Beside the marker, stretching across the side of the Old Galveston Square building, is the Absolute Equality mural.
It takes its name directly from the language of the order itself, which declared 'an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.' The mural moves through the arc of the African American journey to freedom, from the transatlantic slave trade, through Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln, to the issuing of General Order No. 3, and finally to figures walking toward a future yet to be written.
Absolute equality. Two words still aspirational and standing in front of that wall, I felt the full weight of how far we have come, and how far we still have to go.
The Old Galveston Square building features more than the mural on its outside wall.
The Old Galveston Square building features more than the mural on its outside wall. Inside, on the ground floor, is the Nia Cultural Center, home of the Juneteenth Legacy Project Headquarters. Walking from the mural straight into the cultural center felt like walking from a story painted on a wall into the very community keeping that story alive.
A Sense Of Peace At Reedy Chapel
One of my favorite stops during my visit was Reedy Chapel, a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church located on Broadway. I'm ashamed to admit that I have driven by this church for years without knowing what it was or how significant it is. It was established in 1848 by enslaved people who received the land from their enslavers. They built this church as their own, a place to practice their faith and come together as a community, 17 years before emancipation. Walking inside, I felt the weight of pride followed by an unexpected release of peace. Although it was my first time there, it felt like a place I belonged.
Although it was my first time there, it felt like a place I belonged.
Making Juneteenth Official
Over a century later, Texas would become the first state in the nation to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday in 1980. We owe thanks to Texas State Representative Al Edwards and many others for championing House Bill 1016.
Why I Hope You'll Come
As I left Galveston that day, I felt two things at once: gratitude and sadness. Gratitude for the resilience of the people who came before me and sadness for what they endured so that I could live the life I live today. I thought about my grandparents, my parents, my family. People of strength, of promise, of so much still to give. I am here because they survived.
Galveston. Stand where it began.
