One-hundred and fifty-seven years ago today, troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with a life-altering message: Slaves were finally free. It was a moment of joy and elation for the 250,000 enslaved Black people in the region.
But the announcement came with a major blemish: It happened a deliberate two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. White slaveholders, who weren't ready for their oppressive regime to end, maliciously withheld the news.
