On this day, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved people in Confederate states to be free. However, the proclamation did not apply to enslaved people in certain exempted areas, including thirteen parishes in Louisiana (such as New Orleans), forty-eight counties in West Virginia, and seven counties in Eastern Virginia (including Norfolk). It also did not apply to slaves in the Border States that remained in the Union.
© 2025 KnowThyHistory.com. Know Thy History
