Community Corner

Lincoln, Slavery Documents Displayed at Norwalk Library

If you liked the movie "Lincoln" or have seen "12 Years a Slave," you may want to see some items from that era now on display in Norwalk.

Documents related to slavery and Abraham Lincoln from the private family collection of Kathleen and Gil Rodriguez
of Darien have just gone on display in the lobby of Norwalk Public Library.

The library at 1 Belden Ave. in Norwalk sent out this announcement on Friday about the new display:

The Norwalk Public Library celebrates the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

The Emancipation Proclamation is celebrated at the library with a special display in the lobby with photographs, an Abraham Lincoln autograph, ephemera including an incredible original 1848 “personal property” assessment from Madison County, Alabama.

This document lists the different slaves and their assessed value. This very important informative historical display documents the importance and wisdom of President Abraham Lincoln. The exhibit will be on view for the month of November and continues into December.

On September 22, 1862 President Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation but the actual executive order was not until January 1, 1863. The order proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million slaves in the ten states that were part of the rebellion in the American Civil War.

The Proclamation was based on the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces. It did not require the approval of the Congress.

The Proclamation did not make the ex-slaves (called freedmen) citizens, and did not pertain to the slaves that were in the five slave states that were not in the rebellion.

Emancipation in those states did not occur until December 1865 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment which made slavery illegal everywhere in the United States of America.

The Emancipation Proclamation broadened the goals of the Civil War. While slavery had been a major issue that led to the war, at its beginning, Lincoln's mission had been to keep the Union together.

The Proclamation made freeing the slaves an explicit goal of the Union war effort, and was a step towards outlawing slavery and conferring full citizenship upon ex-slaves.   The items are from the private family collection of Kathleen and Gil Rodriguez, Darien, CT.
 
The Norwalk Public Library, 1 Belden Avenue, Norwalk, CT on the corner of Belden Avenue and Mott Avenue.


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