On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, calling for the abolition of slavery in the unoccupied Confederate states that remained in rebellion against the United States government. Lincoln concluded the document by stating his belief that emancipation would be “an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity.” One hundred years later, African Americans across the nation continued to await the full realization of that “act of justice,” a sentiment reinforced by the tenor of national and local remembrances of the centennial.
Becoming Alabama:
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