s, in 1886, and it was real important for galveston historical foundation to find a vessel that had a connection. and the fact that she was a sailing vessel was all the more important. >> that's a terrible habit! >> in the 1970's, elissa fell upon hard times. she had been at sea for about 100 years. and from what we can ascertain she has one of the longest careers as a merchant vessel. galveston historical foundation were made aware of elissa's plight. and the connection to galveston. and the gears were put into motion to purchase the ship. she was purchased and then brought to galveston in 1979, and the complete restoration of the ship began. she is involved with youth crew,

sail training, seamanship training. we have our adult seamanship training. once a year, we take the vessel out in into the gulf of mexico for a series of day sails and our volunteers end up learning how to sail the ship on a real one-to-one basis. it's one thing reading about sailing these ships in books. but to actually fist-canvas, to climb the rigging, feel the ship breathe and move while you're sailing is a unique opportunity and one that is available to people that join our volunteer program here at texas seaport museum. >> juneteenth is a celebration of the abolition of slavery in texas on june 19, 1865. in galveston, the end of slavery was announced by union general gordon granger. that story, next here on the span cities tour. ♪[music]♪

>> the emancipation proclamation, it was signed into law in september of 1862, to go into effect january 1 1863. but the word, the enforcement of

the emancipation proclamation did not go into effect here in the south until two and a half years after the effective date. african-american slaves couldn't read. it was against the law for them to be able to read. so i don't think they knew about it. the union troops arrived in galveston on june the 18th, 1865. it was 2,000 union soldiers, along with general gordon granger. some of the slaves once they heard they were free were jubilant. others were depressed, because they had never been on their own. they didn't have a place to go. they didn't have any money to purchase anything. so a lot of the slaves stayed at first baptist church, which was established in 1840.

we were at the ashton villa, which was the first brick mansion constructed on galveston island. it was constructed in 1859. this place also served as the residence for the confederate army. and then later gordon granger's residence when he arrived on june 18th, 1865. we've been having a celebration here at ashton villa for 36 years. and it coincided with the state of texas holiday for juneteenth. the texas state holiday occurred by an african-american representative by the name of al edwards of houston, texas. he remembered as a kid