Tag: Slavery

Just like that we was free – Juneteenth Remembered

General Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, in Appomattox County, Virginia, effectively signaling that the Confederacy had lost the war, but many enslavers in Texas did not share this news with their human property. It was on June 19, 1865, soon after arriving in Galveston, that Granger issued the announcement, known as General Order Number 3, that all slaves were free and word began to spread throughout Texas, from plantation to plantation, farmstead to farmstead, person to person.

A ninety-two-year-old formerly enslaved man named Felix Haywood recalled with nostalgic jubilation what that day meant to him and so many others: “The end of the war, it come jus’ like that—like you snap your fingers…Hallelujah broke out…Soldiers, all of a sudden, was everywhere—comin’ in bunches, crossin’ and walkin’ and ridin’. Everyone was a-singin’. We was all walkin’ on golden clouds…We was free. Just like that we was free.”

How the Word Is Passed
Clint Smith

Whitney Plantation Tour, Pics of

Whitney Plantation
Whitney Plantation educates the public about the history and legacies of slavery in the United States. Visitors to the museum will learn about the history of slavery through exhibits, an hour and 15-minute tour, and conversations with our staff.


Booked tour via: Cajun Encounters – Whitney Plantation
Paying homage to slaves of Whitney and across the South. Step back in time and explore the history of this famous plantation.

NOTES – The plantation is about an hour outside of New Orleans. On the way the tour guide gave us some history of the area and we got to see some Louisiana countryside. Highly recommeneded.