General Orders, No. 3

General Orders, No. 3, read on June 19, 1865 announcing that all slaves were free, [is the proclamation that birthed the celebration of Juneteenth]. US President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Issued under powers granted to the president “as a fit and necessary war measure”, the proclamation declared, “That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward and forever free…” However, Lincoln’s proclamation would have little impact on Texans at that time due to the small number of Union troops available to enforce it.

Two and a half years later, in June of 1865, more than two thousand Federal soldiers of the 13th Army Corps arrived in Galveston and with them Major General Gordon Granger, Commanding Officer, District of Texas. Granger’s men marched through Galveston reading General Order, No. 3 at numerous locations, including their headquarters at the Osterman Building, 1861 Custom House, courthouse, and then the Negro Church on Broadway, as Reedy Chapel-AME Church was referred to then. The order informed all Texans that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves were free.

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Juneteenth Celebration 2022!

On Friday, June 17, Sandy Spring Friends joined with members of Sharp Street United Methodist Church and other neighbors to celebrate Juneteenth! Many thanks to Roxanne Jarrett and Cheryl McLeod for hosting this great event as well as everyone who participated!

Also called Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day and Liberation Day, June 19th was declared a national holiday in 2021.

Our program included a libation ceremony calling in the ancestors and land acknowledgment led by Cheryl McLeod, reading of the General Orders, No. 3 proclamation to Texas of 1865, a Juneteenth “shout out” exploring what freedom means to you, centering prayer, song and music!

To view our livestream of the event, click on the YouTube video below!

Photos by Kim Keller, Images Lost and Found