KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Frank Thompson, a Kansas City, Missouri, man is going the extra mile to get back to his Texas roots.
“My family tree traces back to central and east Texas, so we were apart of those 250,000 slaves that were liberated," Thompson said, "It's a homecoming, it's a reflection point — it's a reminder of that lost family history."
On Juneteenth, Thompson told KSHB 41 News he is taking a step toward honoring his family's legacy and remembering the past.
"One of the things for me growing up — Juneteenth was always about going to the park, celebrating, watching parades, but there wasn't really a lot of education," Thompson said.
However, he got the call from his friend, Ken Johnston, who organized the 2024 Juneteenth Walk to Freedom.
It will take place over five days from Galveston, Texas, — where slaves were freed on June 19, 1865 — all the way to Houston, Texas.
“Slaves previously had to have a pass to move around Galveston. Then, after the Emancipation Act and General Order Number 3 were passed here, they had to have a pass to leave Galveston," Johnston said. "What we are doing is looking at those who were given passes or were able to escape Galveston, and we will be following the route of two men who escaped Galveston and went sort of westward across a number of bayous into Houston."
Reliving history, seeing the past, and even listening to the readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, Thompson says stepping back in time and walking 12 to 14 miles a day is a step toward America's path forward.
“We are not free until all of us are free, and Juneteenth represented the beginning of the end of slavery for all of us in this country,” Thompson said.
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