On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, officially ending slavery in the Confederate states. From that day on, all people who had been enslaved there were free—well, sort of.
In those days, without mass communications and social media, news spread slowly. And this news in particular. The Union lacked enough soldiers to enforce the proclamation, so in many places slavery continued. Texas was the last state to abandon the institution. All that changed, however, on June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger and almost 2,000 troops arrived in Galveston and issued General Order No. 3. The order ended slavery in Texas.
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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.
General Gordon Granger


◀ Notice that the order mentions the “Executive of the United States.” The person this term referred to was President Lincoln. General Order No. 3 urged people to stay where they were and work as employees, but many didn’t. Instead, some left for the North or to find family members elsewhere. This period became known as “the scatter.”
President Abraham Lincoln
After issuing General Order No. 3, Granger traveled throughout Texas for six weeks. He went from plantation to plantation intending to spread the word to the 250,000 enslaved people in the state. But many plantation owners were slow to share the news with their enslaved workers; some even waited to share it until after the harvest in order to keep from paying wages. ▶



◀ Having red foods and drinks is part of celebrating Juneteenth. Why red, you might ask? Like most else on Juneteenth, the answer has to do with slavery. Before emancipation, enslaved people were not allowed to have drinks like strawberry soda. As free people, there was no such “rule.” Today, Juneteenth celebrators enjoy strawberry soda as a symbol of resilience and resistance.
The Juneteenth flag is full of symbolism. The colors—red, white, and blue—remind everyone that enslaved people—and their descendants—are Americans. The star in the center is for Texas. According to Lisa Jeanne Graf, one of the flag’s designers, the larger star bursting on the horizon “represents a new freedom, a new people, a new star.” Another version of the flag includes the date of General Order No. 3, June 19, 1865. ▶
