This image of Galveston was taken on Nov. 23, 2022, from the International Space Station as it orbited 224 miles above Earth. While President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, word that enslaved people were free did not reach Galveston until well into 1865. When Union troops arrived that year to share the news, spontaneous celebrations broke out in African American churches, homes, and other gathering places. As years passed, the picnics, barbecues, parades, and other celebrations that sprang up to commemorate June 19th became more formalized as freed men and women purchased land, or “emancipation grounds,” to hold annual Juneteenth celebrations.
Related posts
-
Orion on the Rise
NASA/Radislav SinyakTechnicians lift NASA’s Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell on... -
‘It’s heart-forward:’ Q&A with ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ creators about Season 2 (exclusive)
Fortified with an optimistic spirit and settling into its new home on the Netflix streaming platform,... -
Astronaut ice cream turns 50: freeze-dried treat still popular (even if it never flew)
Perhaps the most popular example of space food that possibly never was, astronaut ice cream is...