Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Learn about the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 with reference archivist Damani Davis.
The National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, displayed the original Emancipation Proclamation, along with General Order No. 3, from Thurs., June 19, to Sun., June 22, 2025.
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.
The freedom promised in the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered to 250,000 slaves 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 No. 3, which informed the people of Texas that all slaves in the state were now free. This day has come to be known as Juneteenth, a combination of June and 19th. These documents were important elements of the abolition movement, which sought to end slavery. That goal was not fully realized until December 6, 1865, when the requisite number of states ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, legally ending slavery in the United States.
Learn more: visit.archives.gov/whats-on/explore-exhibits/emancipation-proclamation-and-juneteenth
Learn about the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 with reference archivist Damani Davis.
The National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, displayed the original Emancipation Proclamation, along with General Order No. 3, from Thurs., June 19, to Sun., June 22, 2025.
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.
The freedom promised in the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered to 250,000 slaves 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 No. 3, which informed the people of Texas that all slaves in the state were now free. This day has come to be known as Juneteenth, a combination of June and 19th. These documents were important elements of the abolition movement, which sought to end slavery. That goal was not fully realized until December 6, 1865, when the requisite number of states ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, legally ending slavery in the United States.
Learn more: visit.archives.gov/whats-on/explore-exhibits/emancipation-proclamation-and-juneteenth
