Thousands queue to see the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 (2024)

Two of the most influential documents that discuss the freedom of enslaved Black people in the United States are so fragile that the National Archives normally keeps them in a high-security climate-controlled vault with limited light for preservation. But that could change soon. On Saturday, Colleen Shogan, the Archivist of the United States, announced a plan to display the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 permanently.

Shogan said they belong with other foundational documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which are on permanent display in the Charters of Freedom Rotunda at the Archives.

“It’s critically important because it’s an addition to the Charters of Freedom and helps us tell a much more comprehensive story,” she said. “It’s important for all Americans to see a reflection of themselves in American History.”

She did not give a date, saying the timing will depend on when the archivists complete their research on preservation.

Inside the East Side Rotunda, Beth Short, 45 and Laura Short, 44, stood with their daughter Ada, 7, peering over the Emancipation Proclamation, which was enclosed in a glass climate-controlled case with a wooden base. The Shorts pointed to parts of the document while Ada’s curious wide eyes followed along.

Ada asked about the importance of Juneteenth. Her parents explained it the best way she could comprehend. Beth Short said later that it is key for children to learn history during their foundational years even if the conversation is uncomfortable in the current polarized political climate.

“There have been struggles of equality and continued struggles that are present and it’s connected. If we don’t have those conversations, we’re just going to repeat them,” Short said.

Garrett Osumah, 47, stood behind his small young sons as they gazed over General Order No. 3, which was enclosed in a glass case. Even before they got to the Archives, Osumah said, he had given his sons a pop quiz on the documents and the history of slavery during their 22-mile ride from their home in Fairfax.

As a Black father, Osumah said he chooses to educate rather than shield his sons from racism in America. He believes his sons need to know how slavery started, how early Americans built a system to perpetuate it despite declarations of equality and freedom, and how that history relates to the present.

“We have three young Black men,” he said. “They need to understand that these things happened in the world and it’s not just back in the 1800s. These types of things are happening now.”

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. It declared that “all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states are free, but exempted large swaths of territory and came with stipulations for the enslaved.

The freedom it promised was contingent on a Union victory. The declaration applied in 10 Confederate states, leaving more than half a million Black people enslaved in parts of the Confederacy and in loyal border states. Although it did not end slavery in every corner of the country, “it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war,” according to the National Archives.

Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, on June 19, 1865, enslaved Black people in Galveston, Tex., were finally informed of their freedom through General Order No. 3, which stated “that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

Unlike the nation’s founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation was not written on parchment, which is more durable. As a result, the document is extremely delicate and has been damaged over the years because of significant exposure to light, according to Lee Glazer, director of museum programs at the National Archives. General Order No. 3 is in slightly better condition because it has been in storage for decades and had not been on display until last year. But it was also not written on parchment, making it very fragile.

While Glazer supports plans for a permanent exhibit, she also feels the timing of the annual display the past two years offered its own kind of symmetry. “Exhibiting them together over Juneteenth weekend was a good way to launch a celebration of freedom and equality culminating with the Fourth of July,” she said.

Some visitors needed a moment after seeing the documents.

Stepping away from the glass cases, Jonathan Massaquoi, 37, sat on a bench with his one-year-old curly haired son Miles on his lap, while his wife held Zora, 3, sporting a purple shirt with the names Sojourner, Phyllis and Frederick in bold white letters.

Massaquoi said as he looked at the Emancipation Proclamation, the realization that he wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for these documents traveled through his mind. “I’ve never seen these types of documents in person,” he said. “These are the kind of things that truly change people’s lives in the moment.”

The exhibit opened Saturday and will be open until Monday at 7 p.m.