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Juneteenth, June 19, marks the date in 1865 when a Union general landed at Galveston to announce that all Texas slaves were free. This was two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the surrender of the Confederate Army.
In 1980, Juneteenth officially became a Texas state holiday, and in 2021, Juneteenth was officially designated a federal holiday.
Keep an eye on Bluebonnet’s social media pages to learn about area Juneteenth events. Email socialmedia@bluebonnet.coop to let us know of your community event.
Bluebonnet offices will be closed June 19 in honor of the holiday.
TEXAS FREEDOM COLONIES
In the late 1800s, people who had been enslaved and their descendants in rural areas realized sharecropping would never lead to their dream of independence and true freedom. So, a movement began in Texas and other southern states for Black Americans to form their own landowner communities, unincorporated and remote from whites. They chose uncultivated rural land that was cheap or could be claimed as untitled.
Growth of these settlements, sometimes called freedom colonies, peaked in the early 1900s, with 31% of Black Texans owning land.
About 400 of these settlements developed, including St. John Colony on the Bastrop-Caldwell county line, Nunnsville in Lee County and Mount Fall in Washington County. Get more information from the Texas Freedom Colonies Project at thetexasfreedomcoloniesproject.com.
Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative members in Washington County will experience a temporary power outage Tuesday, May 23, as crews complete an upgrade to electric distribution lines. The upgrade will increase the voltage carried through the power lines and is needed to continue to reliably serve the growing demand for electricity in the area.
The outage will occur 9 a.m. to noon, and will affect about 650 homes and businesses near FM 2780, FM 1697, Engelbrecht Rd., Wildflower Rd., Christian Cemetery Rd., Hancock Ln., FM 1948, Post Oak Rd., Outback Ln., Fischer Rd., Rehburg, Rd., FM 1948 W, Colvin Rd., Edgewater Ln., Somerville Terrace, Weber Ln., FM 594, Ben Tap Ln., Stevens Rd., Harge Rd., Eberhardt Rd., Schulenberg Ln., Mallard Rd., Roberts Rd., Iron Bridge Rd., Wilhelm Ln., Pheasant Ln., Cheri Ln., Drake Rd., Deep Water Blvd., Longpoint Rd., Natalie Ln., Rocky Creek Park Rd., Friendship Circle, Coon Rd., Dorothy Ln., Joyce Circle, Caneople Ln., White Cap Ln., Malkey Ln., Rabbit Rd., Bates Ln., Bredthauer Rd., Flagpond Ln. and Faist Rd.
“Safety is our top priority every day,” said Matt Bentke, Bluebonnet’s general manager. “We will have more than 100 Bluebonnet employees and contractors, and about 75 vehicles in the area working to complete this conversion with as little impact on our members as possible. We take every precaution possible to make these jobs safe, and ask that residents in the area be cautious and aware of our crews.”
Bluebonnet has contacted every member who will be affected by the outage to inform them of the day and period of time they will be without power, and will call them again on Monday, May 22.
Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is one of the largest electric cooperatives in Texas and has been serving its members since 1939. Bluebonnet serves more than 125,000 meters and owns and maintains 12,000 miles of power lines, located across more than 3,800 square miles within 14 Central Texas counties. Bluebonnet’s service area stretches from Travis County to Washington County, and from Milam County to Gonzales County. For more information about Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, go to bluebonnet.coop and follow the co-op on Facebook and Twitter.
