Emancipation Day in Kentucky

While Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the August 8th observance is common to parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, where then-governor Andrew Johnson freed his personal slaves on August 8th. More commonly known is the annual “Juneteenth National Freedom Day,” a state holiday recognized by the Kentucky legislature in 2005. June 19, 1865, is the date slaves in Texas were freed by union troops.

A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind.

John Maynard Keynes

Emancipation came to the colored race in America as a war measure. It was an act of military necessity. Manifestly it would have come without war, in the slower process of humanitarian reform and social enlightenment.

Wendell Willkie

The Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, was put into effect on January 1, 1863, but news of the Proclamation and enforcement did not reach Texas until after the end of the Civil War almost two years later.

Corrine Brown

Freedom is an expensive gift always worth fighting for. Even if it costs us!

Marck E. Estemil

Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.

Mortimer Adler