“In light of what has happened recently in our nation with police brutality, I wanted to make sure that we highlighted Juneteenth,” Mr. Davis said in an interview. He asked his colleagues if the archives had any documents from that day in 1865, hoping to find something but not sure that he would. Trevor K. Plante, the director of archival operations at the National Archives building in Washington, zeroed in on the Union Army records from Texas. “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” it said. Image The leather-bound ledger containing the order, the end of which can be seen on the upper left side of the page.

Source: New York Times June 19, 2020 21:22 UTC