Annette Gordon-Reed is initially annoyed that people outside of Texas are beginning to celebrate Juneteenth because she has considered Texas and Texans to be special and unique. However, she realizes Texas has been instrumental in making Juneteenth a national holiday. As she explains, Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger signed General Order Number 3, announcing the end of legalized slavery in Texas. Thus, this was the day enslaved Black people in Texas learned slavery had ended, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed. 

Through non-chronological personal memoir and a discussion of Juneteenth, Gordon-Reed, whose Texas roots date back to the 1820s, intends to explore the American story of Texas. This is a story that includes Indigenous Americans, settler colonialists, Hispanic culture, slavery, race, and immigration beyond the stereotypes of Texas the rest of the world has come to know.

In the public imagination, Texas is viewed as a place of extremes, partly due to its large size. In popular culture, the Cowboy, the Rancher, and the Oilman—all white men—have become the imagined embodiment of Texas and its extremes.