Some words from our founding attorney, Roger Orlando.
Beginning tomorrow and moving forward on an annual basis for the remainder of my career and this law firm, we will begin to observe Juneteenth as an annual paid holiday. As I understand it, following the conclusion of the Civil War and after the enacting of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 which basically outlawed slavery, pockets of the South continued to operate plantations, including the use of slaves, contrary to the Act or the conclusion of the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led a couple of thousand federal troops to Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War had ended, and slaves had been freed. Even then, approximately 250,000 Texan slaves had no idea that their freedom had been secured by the government until that date. In 1980 Juneteenth became a Texas state holiday.
We can agree and respectfully disagree on various items prevailing all over the news these days with regard to current news and movements. However, I do not believe that any of us can disagree with the statement that the institution of slavery anywhere in the world is repugnant to human dignity. #orlandofirm. #martinilawyer