1863
Washington, DC, US
President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all enslaved people in Confederate states 'henceforth shall be free.' The order applies to approximately 3.5 million enslaved Africans in rebelling territories, though it does not immediately free those in Union-held areas or states that had not joined the Confederacy[6][7].
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