DALLAS — The Juneteenth festivities marking the conclusion of slavery in the United States trace back to a pivotal directive issued alongside Union troops’ arrival in Texas shortly after the Civil War. This decree announced that all enslaved individuals in the state were liberated and possessed “absolute equality.”
The spread of General Order No. 3, proclaimed on June 19, 1865, was accelerated by the presence of U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, who landed in Galveston, a South Texas port city. Troops were responsible for distributing handbills while newspapers echoed the messages across the region.
A significant artifact of history, one of those original handbills, is set to be displayed by the Dallas Historical Society at the Hall of State in Fair Park beginning June 19. While Juneteenth was only recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, the tradition of celebrating it in Texas dates back to 1866. Over time, communities in various states have adopted similar celebrations.
Portia D. Hopkins, Rice University’s historian in Houston, reflected on these gatherings as filled with barbecues and festivities. She remarked, “It was genuinely an occasion for people to acknowledge their journey, to recognize how far they have come, and the trials they have endured as a community.”
The progression towards freedom saw a significant milestone on January 1, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. This document declared the freedom of all enslaved people in the Confederate states. However, this did not translate into immediate freedom.
Edward T. Cotham Jr., a historian and the author of “Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration,” comments that the proclamation’s implications weren’t realized until Union forces actively liberated enslaved individuals across the South.
Erin Stewart Mauldin, the head of southern history at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, elaborates that the proclamation did not cover border states that allowed slavery but remained loyal to the Union, nor did it cover Union-occupied states. She describes emancipation as “a patchwork,” emphasizing its gradual and localized nature. Nonetheless, she acknowledges that the proclamation was immediately recognized as historically groundbreaking.
As the war continued, the southward migration of enslavers into Texas swelled the enslaved population from roughly 182,000 in 1860 to around 250,000 by the war’s conclusion in 1865, explains Mauldin.
While many enslaved individuals across the South were aware of the Emancipation Proclamation, its significance was only realized once Union troops enforced it, says Cotham. Thus, despite freedom being declared on various dates, June 19 is particularly symbolic, representing the liberation of the “last large intact group of enslaved people.”
The official document, General Order No. 3, initiated the declaration by announcing the freedom of “all slaves” and their entitlement to “absolute equality” of rights. It redefined the connection between “former masters and slaves” as one of employer and employee. The order also advised freed people to stay in their current homes and work for wages, emphasizing that they shouldn’t rely on military posts.
Troops distributed the handbills to church and regional leaders. Cotham notes that Union chaplains journeyed farm to farm to clarify the order. Many former enslavers emphasized the section about continued work when reciting it to their former enslaved individuals.
The handbill that the Dallas Historical Society plans to display originates from George Bannerman Dealey’s collection — a newspaperman who established the society, says Karl Chiao, the society’s executive director. This artifact remains one of a kind, unlike the official handwritten record housed at the National Archives.
After liberation, responses varied among the newly freed individuals. Some stayed at plantations, others moved to cities like Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio in search of employment, states W. Marvin Dulaney, deputy director at the African American Museum of Dallas.
Although freedom brought excitement, there was a firm acknowledgment of the need to establish what citizenship would mean for them, highlights Hopkins from Rice University. She adds, “Despite the altered relationship between enslaver and enslaved, societal norms and cultural attitudes largely remained unchanged.”
In the early days of Juneteenth celebrations, participants exhibited immense courage. By 1868, with the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in Texas, they celebrated under the looming specter of violence, acknowledges Mauldin. She reflects that the fight for what freedom should look like was actively pursued by former slaves, asserting that it wasn’t merely granted.