After 1865, many free Black people faced starvation and homelessness and were forced to go back to work as sharecroppers on plantations for subsistence wages. Ever since a Union Army general announced in Galveston, Tex., that all slaves are free on June 19, 1865 a day now commemorated as Juneteenth the question of how to compensate the countrys formerly enslaved people has hung over the United States. Your browser does not support the