The Bobbie Gean and TJ Patterson Branch Library will host Emancipation and Its Legacies, a nation traveling exhibition on display from Tuesday, May 31st to Saturday, June 25th. The end of slavery in the United States is the most important turning point in American constitutional, political, and social history. The legacies of emancipation will be with us forever, forcing us to face who we believe we are as a people.
Developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Emancipation and Its Legacies marks the sesquicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The exhibition is divided into five panels: Conflicting Visions of the Future of the United States: 1850-1860; War and Fugitive Slaves: 1861-1862; 1863: Emancipation; The Process of Emancipation: 1864-1865; and The Legacy of Emancipation: Civil War to Civil Rights, 1865-1964. Drawing on letters, personal accounts, images, and other documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, each section traces the major events that led to emancipation.
“We are pleased to have been selected as a site for this exhibition,” said Melissa Barber, Branch Manager at Bobbie Gean and TJ Patterson Branch Library. “Through reproductions of documents, photographs, and posters, the exhibition invites visitors to learn about emancipation through the eyes of individuals. Though Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred and fifty years ago, people today can still identify with the dreams and hopes of the people freed by that document, and the promise it held for them. We hope that this exhibition will help visitors better understand the human history and legacy of freedom and emancipation.”
The site is sponsoring free programs and other events for the public in connection with the exhibition. Contact Melissa Barber, (806) 767-3300 or visit www.lubbocklibrary.com for more information.
About the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Our purpose is to tell the story of the struggle for freedom in the United States through exhibits and programs that focus on America’s battle to rid itself of the ugly scourge of slavery and treat all its citizens with respect and dignity.
About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education. The Institute has developed an array of programs for schools, teachers, and students that now operate in all fifty states, including a website that features the more than 60,000 unique historical documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection, www.gilderlehrman.org. Each year the Institute offers support and resources to tens of thousands of teachers, and through them enhances the education of more than a million students. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Organization of American Historians.
(News release from the City of Lubbock Public Library)