The proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators.
The Emancipation Proclamation that became law Jan. 1, 1863. Amherst is celebrating that proclamation issuance.
AMHERST – At 2 p.m. on Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
The proclamation, written on Sept. 22, 1862, declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
Amherst will celebrate that proclamation with an event at 2 p.m. in town, said Reynolds Winslow, the chairman of the Amherst Human Rights Commission.
Town officials and community members are asked to gather on the Town Common at 2 p.m. to read the Emancipation Proclamation. Town churches and colleges are encouraged to ring their bells for five minutes.
All town businesses are encouraged to post a copy of the proclamation in their shop windows. Storekeepers are encouraged to pause for five minutes to ring a bell outside their front door and residents, too, are encouraged to pause wherever they are and ring a bell for five minutes.
Winslow said the proclamation is “is an inspiration” and he wants to see it celebrated.
He said Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, is hoping to get a statewide proclamation and that all religious institutions across the state will to ring bells to mark signing. He said he actually love to see it embraced nationally.
The Amherst event is still developing and they are lining up more people. “It might get larger,” he said.
The document, according to the National Archives and Records Administration, “applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.
Although it did not end slavery in the nation, “it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war,” Winslow said.
The proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.
Springfield is also celebrating the signing beginning Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. at the Sovereign Bank Building, 1350 Main St.â¨That event costs $25 per person and includes entertainment, refreshments, and champagne.
State Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, will read the proclamation at midnight.