The only known remaining original copy of the order ending slavery in Texas will be on display again starting Juneteenth.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1863 — but it wasn’t until more than two years later when Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston that enslaved people in Texas gained their freedom.
The document will be on display at the Hall of State in Fair Park, part of an interactive exhibit put on by the Dallas Historical Society.
“In order to understand today, you need to understand yesterday,” said Reverend Peter Johnson, a civil rights leader whose work spans over four decades in Dallas. “You can't make sense of today without understanding how we got here."
The Dallas Historical Society acquired the document from the family of George Bannerman Dealey, one of the founders of the Dallas Morning News. The Dealey family donated it to the DHS in the 60s.
W. Marvin Dulaney, a historian and the deputy director of the Dallas African American Museum, said Juneteenth completes the circle of American independence, starting with the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
“Now we get to June 19th, 1865, where finally... the Emancipation Proclamation is read in the last place that basically needs to be read, which of course is here in Texas,” Dulaney said.
Dulaney and Levi Davis, Dallas’ first African American assistant city manager, will be on a panel on June 19 at the Hall of State discussing their experiences during the civil rights movement with segregation and racism in Dallas.
The copy of General Order No. 3 will be on display until Oct. 19 before it returns to the archives.
Olla Mokhtar is KERA’s news intern. Got a tip? Email Olla at omokhtar@kera.org.
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