Happy 150th Anniversary to the Emancipation Proclamation

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (seen above). This single document changed the course of history in our country, leading us past dark centuries of slavery and into freedom, reconstruction, and civil rights.

The Emancipation Proclamation above does read:

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: 

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all person's held as slaves within any State or any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free; and the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom."

Slavery was officially abolished in 1865, however, it took one state almost 150 years to date to receive word on the dismantling of an era.  

On February 17, 2013, Mississippi, became the last state in the nation to ratify the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 

Wow.

2013 LA