Find out how Emancipation Day was celebrated by Southerners on January 1, 1869

[PatYoung]

Except for Memorial Day, the Civil War commemorative day most widely observed in the United States in the 1860s was Emancipation Day. The first Emancipation Day was, of course, January 1, 1863 when free Black congregations met in prayer and anticipation beginning on New Year’s Eve to await the news that Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. By 1865, the day was being observed in Southern cities liberated by the Union Army. After the war, what had begun as a religious event became a community-wide celebration. “Watch Night” (December 31) and Emancipation Day (January 1) observations continued in some communities for decades. In others, they were suppressed at the end of Reconstruction.

Celebrating Emancipation Day in the Heart of the Confederacy January 1, 1869 - The Reconstruction Era

January 1 was celebrated in Black communities as Emancipation Day, a commemoration of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. While Juneteenth was celebrated in Texas, in many areas...

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