Civil rights groups declare New Year’s Day ‘Emancipation Day’

Jan. 1 is more than New Year’s Day.

It’s also Emancipation Day, civil rights groups across the nation have declared.

Today is the 156th anniversary of the date in 1863 on which the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln took effect, freeing African-Americans from slavery.

This year also marks the 400th anniversary of the first documented arrival of slaves kidnapped from Africa into the torturous journey to American shores via a barbaric, trans-Atlantic slave trade, Rainbow PUSH Coalition founder/President the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday.

“The Emancipation Proclamation is the most consequential executive order in the history of the United States. There is no document more significant to America,” said Jackson, preparing to host a Chicago Emancipation Day celebration at PUSH headquarters Tuesday, with food, music and song.

The Emancipation Proclamation declared African-Americans enslaved by the Confederacy “forever free,” stating that the might of the U.S. government, “including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment would then abolish slavery in 1865.

Luminaries behind Emancipation Day and propelling celebration nationwide include NAACP President/CEO Derrick Johnson; National Action Network founder/President Rev. Al Sharpton; National Urban League President Marc Morial; and Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif.

Leaders say Emancipation Day kicks off a year of events commemorating the AfricanAmerican journey from slavery to freedom and the continuing fight against racial inequities.

The PUSH celebration is 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at 930 E. 50th.