June 19, 1865 is the day Union Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston Texas and told salves they' been emancipated from slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed January 1, 1863 but word wouldn't reach Texas until two years later. There was no rush, it was harvest time.
The 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery and said the right listed in the constitution also had to apply to freed blacks. This weekend Mobile will see a Juneteenth Celebration it has never seen before.
Ty Burden, known for years as Chocolate Ty launched this inaugural celebration to connect the Mobile and Africa. The schooner Clotilda was the last known U.S. slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States, arriving at Mobile Bay in autumn 1859 or July 9, 1860, with 110–160 slaves.
The Clotilda is famously connected with Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis. He was the second to last known survivor of the North Atlantic Slave Trade and the subject of Zora Neal Hurston's Baracoon.
With such a deep history Burden did not over look the spiritual elements associated with Juneteenth celebrations. There will be dance, music, food, and as Burden so eloquently stated "it is all complementary to the public". Check the full interview below.