SLAVERY

The National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program and the Organization of American Historians will host a virtual public open house on Thursday to conclude a scholars’ roundtable examining the Underground Railroad in Texas and the southern borderlands.

A new exhibition at the Dutch national museum in Amsterdam is taking an unflinching look at the brutal history of the country's involvement in the global slave trade.

That day of freedom, June 19, 1865, is now also known as Juneteenth, and has been celebrated richly ever since, especially in San Antonio. Juneteenth San Antonio Commissioner, Byron Miller has been in charge of celebrations in the Alamo City for the past 25 years. In earlier years, Miller said celebrations included cooking contests and family reunions for slaves who had been separated. Juneteenth 2020: Why the Holiday Is as Important as Ever This YearThe word eventually reached San Antonio, where in recent years, with Millers help, has hosted the largest Juneteenth celebration in the state. Miller said a good way to celebrate Juneteenth is to push policy makers to create legislation that focuses on the continued push for equality.

St. Marys University professor Teresa Van Hoy said after the Civil War, black union soldiers traveled from Louisiana and helped to liberate Mexico from French control. After the war, they (union soldiers) snuck across to Mexico to help Mexicans and Mexican-Americans overthrow the French, Van Hoy said. Van Hoy said the relationship angered some White Texans, who began killing the wagoneers, until San Antonio Mayor A. The mayor of San Antonio protested because the merchants were unhappy because they couldnt get their goods out, Van Hoy said. A good place to explore southern history is at the San Antonio African-American Community Archive and Museum located at 430 N. Cherry St.

Historian and museum director Lonnie Bunch shows Scott Pelley a capital of the slave trade and explains why slavery is a story of strength in survival