General Order Number Three

The Juneteenth isn't just a celebration of a delayed response to the1862 drafted and1863 activated Emancipation Proclamation. It is the affirmation of the timeless and inherent value of being human. What the Emancipation Proclamation could not do alone to free slaves held hostage to produce another season of crops in some parts of America, the events around the June 19,1865 event in Galveston, Texas did. It not only liberated slaves from slavery it activated a once enslaved people’s humanity with the following General Order.

The Head Quarters District of Texas/// Galveston Texas June 19th 1865. General Order  No. 3.
          
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.
 
 By order of Major General Granger
               
On the shores of Galveston Texas June 19th of 1965, General Gordon Granger issued General Order Number Three. This was an order to be enforced by military action.

It was more than a way to free slave. It was a way to honor humanity. You can set dogs free and they are still dogs. By this military order black people were affirmed as human beings who were equal to their former slave masters.