President Barack Obama views the Emancipation Proclamation with a small group of African American seniors, their grandchildren and some children from the Washington, D.C. area, in the Oval Office on January 18, 2010.“That all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free” were the words of The Emancipation Proclamation issued January 1, 1963 by President Abraham Lincoln. This was the beginning of the end of the enslavement of African Americans in the boundaries of the United States of America. Ironically, this executive order from President Lincoln freed the slave living in the states that had rebelled against the Union and not slaves of states within the Union. The order enabled ex-slaves now (Freedmen) to legally participate as soldiers for the Union military. The issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery but was an integral part in the foundation that would build resistance and ultimately shelter from this evil of society.
The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet
