CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center ran an all-day Juneteenth celebration Monday, which included musical performances, panel discussions, a barbecue and pop-up shops.
Cards that were being handed out to attendees featured the day’s program on one side — and General Order No. 3 on the other.
“Juneteenth marks remembrance of June 19, 1865, when Gen. Gordon Granger had to ride out with troops and enforce freedom,” said Dr. Kim Mulaney, the vice president of education and programs at the museum.
Granger’s order came two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, but the latter wasn’t enforced until Granger and the Union army made it to Texas.
Dulaney read the order:.
“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 freed 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.”
Dulaney noted the order was “freedom with a caveat.”
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