Emancipation Proclamation "Forever Free"

Emancipation Proclamation

The creative team -- history professor Kevin McGruder, Ph.D., public historian Velma Maia Thomas and visual journalist Georgia Scott -- understands what it means to make the dry bones of the past come alive today! In their lavishly illustrated book, history is released from the confines of school, original documents are liberated from archival storage for everyone to see, and 500 years of events are explained as clearly and simply as T.V. and social media coverage of the most recent inauguration. We are living in historic times, and this book conveys what specifically makes these days so amazing.

Almost everyone knows Africans were enslaved in this "land of liberty" and later freed after a nation-splitting war. Yet few understand precisely why slavery existed and how its hold on our country was gradually broken. From the Declaration of Independence to The Constitution to Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and finally, to the signed executive order that began to unshackle Black Americans, documents revealing the story are beautifully reproduced here and decoded in plain words.