The origin of the Juneteenth celebrations — marking the end of slavery in the U.S. — goes back to an order issued as Union troops arrived in Texas at the end of the Civil War.
General Order No. 3 was issued on June 19, 1865, when U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed in the South Texas port city of Galveston, as troops posted handbills and newspapers published them.
The Dallas Historical Society has one of those original handbills on display at the Hall of State in Fair Park: part of "Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom," a four-month exhibit that debuted on Thursday, June 19, and will remain until October 19, closing day of the 2025 State Fair of Texas.
The immersive, rotating exhibition will incorporate historical documents and an explainer of how General Order No. 3 helped Texas evolve from a slavery state to emancipation for all.
Progression of freedom
On Jan. 1, 1863, nearly two years into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of “all persons held as slaves” in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. But it didn't mean immediate freedom.
“It would take the Union armies moving through the South and effectively freeing those people for that to come to pass,” said Edward T. Cotham Jr., a historian and author of the book “Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration.”
Cotham said that while enslaved people were emancipated “on a lot of different dates in a lot of different places across the country,” June 19 is the most appropriate date to celebrate the end of slavery because it represents the “last large intact body of enslaved people to be freed."
He said many enslaved people across the South knew of the Emancipation Proclamation, but that it didn't mean anything until troops arrived to enforce it.
About six months after General Order No. 3 was issued, the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified.
General Order No. 3
The order begins by saying “all slaves are free” and have "absolute equality” of rights. Going forward, the relationship between “former masters and slaves” will be that of employer and hired laborer. It advises freedmen to “remain at their present homes and work for wages," adding that they must not collect at military posts and “will not be supported in idleness.”
The handbills were also handed out to church and local officials. Cotham said Union chaplains would travel from farm to farm to explain the order to workers, and many former enslavers read the order to the people they had enslaved, emphasizing the part about continuing to work.
The Dallas Historical Society's handbill came from the collection of newspaperman George Bannerman Dealey, who founded the society, said Karl Chiao, the society's executive director. Dealey began working at a Galveston newspaper in 1874 before being sent to Dallas by the publisher to start The Dallas Morning News.
Chiao said their handbill is the only one they know of that still exists. The National Archives holds the official handwritten record of General Order No. 3.
