Juneteenth: Read-Alouds and Letter-Writing
Station N°5 celebrates and observes 2025 Juneteenth, commemorating the day that Union soldiers (finally) informed freedpeople in Galveston, Texas that they were, indeed, free. President Abraham Lincoln formally signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1, 1863; however, freedpeople in Galveston were informed two years later, on June 19, 1865. Though many Texans have been celebrating this day since then, Juneteenth became a U.S. federal holiday on June 17, 2021.
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Juneteenth, Literacy and Stationery
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation using a steel dip pen with a wooden handle — not a fountain pen or quill. The pen was kept by William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State. The preliminary draft was written on ordinary writing paper. The final signed version was written on high-quality vellum (animal skin parchment) to ensure durability and formality. The final document is housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Fast Facts
As scribbled in our note, “A brief history of African American writing stations,” literacy and penmanship were paths to Black liberation during and beyond American slavery. Yet the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation relaxed — to some degree — the anti-literacy measures formerly preventing enslaved and freedpeople from learning to read and write.
To commemorate Juneteenth 2025, we’ve gathered some insights into how freedpeople practiced literacy and engaged stationery during this time.
Freedpeople and their descendants gathered in community to listen to the Emancipation Proclamation read aloud.
Freedmen’s schools, churches and community centers set up formal and informal writing stations to teach freedpeople reading, writing and good penmanship, among other subjects.
Freedpeople wrote letters to the Freedmen’s Bureau seeking family who had been sold or separated during slavery.
Freedpeople petitioned to the Freedmen’s Bureau, local government and Union officers to report violence, unpaid wages, unfair treatment by employers or former enslavers.
Freedpeople appealed to employers, Bureau agents, planters demanding fair wages, work contracts and relocation support.
Freedpeople wrote to missionaries, Northern aid societies, government requests for schools, teachers, books, and church supplies.
Freedpeople wrote to government officials, newspaper editors asserting their rights as citizens, express political opinions, or oppose Black Codes.
Explore the Letter-Writing Archives