Juneteenth Summary
Ralph Ellison

Juneteenth Summary

The title comes from an event that occurred on June 19, 1865. On this date in history, General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas to deliver the news that the Civil War had ended and that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. What is most notable about this event was that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was given on January 1, 1963, nearly two and half years before Granger reached Texas. Hence the vague term "Juneteenth" holds the innuendo...

(read more from the Study Guide)