Rev. James B. Thomas
A few months before I was born, my grandfather, a local pastor, in the thick of the Texas sun dragged his amplifier and podium from his van, up a narrow path to the stairs of Ashton Villa. It was the morning of June 19, 1975, and for the first time in history, someone other than Gen. Gordon Granger stood on the steps of Ashton Villa to inform Galveston, Texas, and the people of the United States that all black people were free.
From 1976-1979, the message that Juneteenth should be commemorated in Galveston grew and so did his desire to see Juneteenth commemorated at the state level. He, with the help of this brother Lawrence J. Thomas, a political strategist in Houston’s Third Ward, lobbied freshman State Representative Al Edwards to prioritize Juneteenth in the earliest days of his tenure in the Representative for District 146.
Juneteenth 1980 - 2006
Mission Accomplished
He, with the help of this brother Lawrence J. Thomas, a political strategist in Houston’s Third Ward, lobbied freshman State Representative Al Edwards to prioritize Juneteenth in the earliest days of his tenure in the Representative for District 146.
Granddaddy was a powerful storyteller. His sermons were painted with anecdotes from his life, so I believe it is true that when Al Edwards heard that my family was owned by the founders of Galveston and Papa John changed his son’s last name from Menard to Thomas, and that his granddaddy was Galveston’s first Black police officer as an immediate act of agency and that our family had been living on the island for nearly one hundred and thirty years.
He shared our history and his vision with State Representative Al Edwards, and in 1979, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday on January 1, 1980.
A Life of Service
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He was a local politician.
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He was passionate about Galveston and improving the lives of Galvestonians. Juneteenth was birthed in Galveston, so his mission was to have the holiday commemorated to establish the history of the holiday and to build a legacy of commemoration of the event.
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He wanted people to not only celebrate Juneteenth, but remember the people who survived to see emancipation. He wanted us to remember our freedom and to share the message of freedom with others.