Online Archival Collections Special Collections Library, Duke University
On January 1, 1863, after three years of a brutal Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing Confederate slaves.
This section of Africans in America (a PBS special on the history of slavery) covers the Civil War years and Abraham Lincoln's presidency.
"Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states."
The proclamation paved the way for the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (December 1865), which ended slavery in the United States.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified by the required number of states on December 18, 1865, permanently abolished slavery in all states.
Almost from the beginning of his administration, Lincoln was pressured by abolitionists and radical Republicans to issue an Emancipation Proclamation.
periodicals from Confederate, Union, abolitionist and British presses
More than two hundred sheet-music compositions that represent Lincoln and the war as reflected in popular music.
Old magazine articles and photos dating from the civil war to WWII
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