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The historic Emancipation Proclamation will be on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to commemorate the holiday of the end of slavery in the United States.
“Few documents in all of American history carry the weight of the Emancipation Proclamation,” the museum’s acting executive director Melissa Coultas said in announcing the document’s upcoming exhibition on Juneteenth. “We are proud to share it with the public and celebrate its connection to such a joyous holiday,” Coultas added.
The museum is located in Springfield, Illinois and has a rare, signed copy of the document that Abraham Lincoln famously issued in 1863. The original document is located in the National Archives in Washington, DC and bears the signature of then-Secretary of State William Seward.
Along with the document, visitors of the Springfield museum can expect to learn about the history of Black Americans’ fight for full citizenship in the US. The exhibit features a timeline of events from 1787 and 2021, covering slavery in Illinois and a race massacre in the city of Springfield and the city’s inaugural Juneteenth celebration.
The exhibit will be up and running between June 15 and July 6. Last month, Illinois was among several states who made Juneteenth an official state holiday.
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