Juneteenth started with handbills proclaiming freedom. Here's what they said

The origin of the Juneteenth celebrations marking the end of slavery in the U.S. goes back to an order issued as Union troops arrived in Texas at the end of the Civil War.

- by Jamie Stengle Associated Press

It declared that all enslaved people in the state were free and had "absolute equality."

Word quickly spread of General Order No. 3 issued on June 19, 1865, when U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed in the South Texas port city of Galveston as troops posted handbills and newspapers published them.

The Dallas Historical Society will put one of those original handbills on display at the Hall of State in Fair Park starting June 19.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in the U.S. in 2021 but has been celebrated in Texas since 1866. As time passed, communities in other states also started to mark the day.

"There'd be barbecue and celebrations," said Portia D. Hopkins, the historian for Rice University in Houston. "It was really an effort for people to say: Look at how far we've come. Look at what we've been able to endure as a community."

Progression of freedom

On Jan. 1, 1863, nearly two years into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of "all persons held as slaves" in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. But it didn't mean immediate freedom.

"It would take the Union armies moving through the South and effectively freeing those people for that to come to pass," said Edward T. Cotham Jr., a historian and author of the book "Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration."