The precise words that prompted Juneteenth

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President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation Jan. 1, 1863, but two and a half years passed before many slaves saw freedom.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, two months after the Civil War ended, when U.S. Major General Gordan Granger announced General Order No. 3 in Galveston, informing the people of Texas that slaves were now free.

Here is the complete text of 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 freedmen are advised to remain quietly 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.”