Thousands Line Up to See the Emancipation Proclamation for Juneteenth

Thousands of Americans took the opportunity over the Juneteenth holiday weekend to see the one-and-only Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves, signed by Abraham Lincoln himself.

The document is rarely displayed because it's so fragile.

Unlike the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Lincoln's proclamation is not made of more durable parchment, the Washington Post noted.

But for the second year in a row to honor Juneteenth, the curious and historically fascinated can see the document in the National Archive’s East Side Rotunda Gallery through Monday.

Also on display was General Order No. 3, which informed Black people in Texas that they were free in 1865 — on Juneteenth.

Both documents are typically in a high-security, climate-controlled vault with limited light to protect them.

But on Saturday, Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan announced plans to permanently display both documents, just as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are.

She warned, however, that it will likely take a few years for more research, design and construction of the case that will safely display the documents.

"But we are committed to this outcome," she added in a tweet.

Such a display is "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 added.

As for the various weekend odysseys, there were tears, hugs and laughter in front of the revolutionary edicts.

“I’ve never seen these types of documents in person,” said visitor Jonathan Massaquoi, 37, who came to witness the documents with his wife, Colleen, year-old son, Miles, and 3-year-old daughter, Zora.

“These are the kind of things that truly change people’s lives in the moment," he told the Post.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, but it did not apply to several areas of the nation, leaving some half a million people still enslaved.

More that two 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: "In accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”