06/19/2026
June 19th 1865 marked the day all enslaved people where truly freed in the United States, this day is now celebrated as âEmancipation Dayâ or âJuneteenthâ. This day is heavily celebrated here in Beaufort county, due to the fact we have some of the largest concentration of Gullah-Geechee people in the National Historic Corridor. Everywhere you go between Daufuskie, Beaufort, and Hilton Head there are many celebrations held throughout the month of June commemorating emancipation. Happy Emancipation Day Yâall!!!
âThe eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States of America were declared legally free. Union soldiers marched into The Confederacy reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation spreading the news of freedom. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States of America. But not everyone in The Confederacy would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate law. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as âEmancipation Dayâ or âJuneteenthâ - Smithsonian Magazine
uscb sandsharks 1795 lowcountryadvantage morethanyouimagine juneteenth emancipationday gullahgeechee gullah geechee 1865
