Photo by John Rigg
Photo courtesy Historic Fort Bend CMighty live oak reminds residents of the past
Missouri City's Freedom Tree has become a long-standing symbol of the city's beginnings as well as the inherent liberties enjoyed by all Americans today.
The Freedom Tree sits on the former Palmer Plantation site, which was purchased by Judge Edward Palmer in 1860. Palmer died in 1862 followed by his wife's death three years later, according to city records. The plantation was left to the Palmer's 14-year-old daughter, Bettie. Slaves worked the land until 1865 when the Civil War came to an end and slavery was abolished in the U.S.
Following the war, slavery was officially put to an end in Texas after Gordon Granger, Union commander of the Department of Texas, arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865 and pronounced the institution of slavery in Texas to be dead. Granger's proclamation led to the state's "Juneteenth" celebrations held each year.
After Granger's proclamation, Ed Gibbs, the head slave at the Palmer Plantation, along with the white overseer gathered the other workers around the Freedom Tree one summer morning to announce that they were all now free. Several of the former slaves learned of their freedom for the first time, and some decided to stay on to work the plantation for a share of the crops, according to "Historic Fort Bend: An Illustrated History" by Andrea Guy Halat.
