In honor of the Juneteenth federal holiday today, the National Archives will add the Emancipation Proclamation to the Rotunda display for the American public to see.
The National Archives plans to place the Emancipation Proclamation on permanent public display in its Rotunda alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the agency announced on Saturday.
“I am proud that the National Archives will enshrine this seminal document for public display adjacent to our nation’s founding documents. Together, they tell a more comprehensive story of the history of all Americans and document progress in our nation’s continuous growth toward a more perfect Union,” said Archivist Dr. Colleen Shogan in a statement.
The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, in which former President Abraham Lincoln wrote that “all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free,” will be up for the National Archives Museum’s annual temporary display to mark Juneteenth, from June 17 to 19.
But Shogan announced ahead of the temporary display that the Archives plans to put the double-sided, five-page document on permanent display in the Rotunda that houses other foundational documents.
The Archives says it’s assessing the best display environment to protect the document condition, and may rotate the original pages on display to preserve the material from light exposure. A timeline for the permanent display was not shared in the Saturday announcement.
In the three-day temporary display period for the Archives’ Juneteenth celebration, the Emancipation Proclamation is viewable along with General Order No. 3, an 1865 document that informed the people of Texas that all enslaved persons were free. The issuance of General Order No. 3 on June 19 of that year is now celebrated as the Juneteenth holiday.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation is definitely a "foundational document" of American history. In an era where states like Texas and Florida are trying to eliminate as much Black history as they can, the National Archives reminding the country that Black history is very much American history is a statement in and of itself.
Will this foundational document even be taught in schools in red states years from now? Will Juneteenth and its history even be mentioned?
The fact that we even have to ask is astonishing.
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