Report a correction
Emancipation
The Emancipation Proclamation was an order issued by Lincoln on 1 January 1863 under his authority as commander-in-chief in wartime. Slavery was finally abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. The 19th of June 1865 — Juneteenth — is the date the news reached Texas, two and a half years after the proclamation, and is now a federal holiday. Emancipation was not simply granted from above: hundreds of thousands freed themselves by walking off plantations towards Union lines, and around 180,000 Black men served in the Union army.
Factual errors are corrected without argument once documented. What you send is read by a person and checked against sources — nothing changes automatically. See the editorial policy.