For a limited time, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is exhibiting a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln. Penned by then-president Lincoln in 1863, the document states that “all persons held as slaves … are, and henceforward shall be free,” paving the way for the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery across the United States in 1865. Only 26 copies of the Proclamation are known to exist today, of which only nine signed by Lincoln have sold publicly within the last 40 years. Accompanying the document in the Freedom Center exhibition are illustrations from political magazine Harper’s Weekly published in 1863.
Through June 2016. $15 adults; $13 seniors; $10.50 children 12 and under. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 50 E. Freedom Way, Downtown, 513-333-7739, freedomcenter.org.
