Print, Abraham Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863

This reception was held in the East Room of the White House just after President Lincoln's second inauguration on March 4, 1865. The President and the first lady are prominently placed in the foreground receiving General and Mrs. Grant in a room filled with notable figures in the U. S. Government and Army. The scene is one of the last major public events before the President's Assassination on April 14, 1865.

Following the American Civil War, this engraving commemorated a crucial event and became popular for classroom display across the country. On July 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln first read the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet officers. Publicly announced by Lincoln in September 1862 to become law on January 1, 1863, it was the essential first legal step in eliminating slavery.

Parades through the city streets of Richmond, Virginia, in celebration of the emancipation of slavery began on April 3, 1866, and continued through the post-Civil War era and into the 20th century.

Earlier this week, we had the wonderful opportunity to host a most historic document: the Emancipation Proclamation.