Get Out! Learn about Juneteenth at the National Archives on Tuesday, June 18 -Thursday, June 20

by Peggy Robin

Featured Document Display: The Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth

Tuesday, June 18, 2024 - Thursday, June 20, 2024

East Rotunda Gallery

FREE

Emancipation Proclamation
Milestones in the long struggle for American freedom

 

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached the third year of the Civil War. Lincoln's proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free,” was “a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing rebellion.” The Proclamation also declared the acceptance of Black men into military service. By the war’s end, almost 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.     

Despite its expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited. The freedom it promised was dependent upon a Union victory in the war. It also only applied in 10 Confederate states, leaving more than half a million men, women, and children in bondage in parts of the Confederacy already under Northern control and in the loyal border states.

 

Nevertheless, the Emancipation Proclamation promised freedom and a new beginning for several million Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. It recognized the moral force behind the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to chattel slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of the nation.   

   

"Juneteenth" General Order No. 3

 

The freedom promised in the Emancipation Proclamation was finally delivered to 250,000 people who remained enslaved in Texas two and a half years after President Lincoln’s historic proclamation and two months after Union victory in the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order 3, which informed the people of Texas that all enslaved persons in the state were now free. This day has come to be known as Juneteenth, a combination of June and 19th. It is also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and it is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

 

National Archives Museum

701 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20408

Open daily, 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

https://museum.archives.gov/
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The "Get Out! event of the week is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays