Lincoln and Emancipation

It took over 200 years for slavery to become illegal in North America, but how did that freedom happen? Abraham Lincoln is sometimes considered the “Great Emancipator” who ended slavery; however, African Americans were not necessarily free from harm or free to vote. These freedoms would require at least another 100 years of struggle to acquire.

Your Task: investigate documents and events responsible for this centuries-long struggle for freedom to determine how these rights were limited or guaranteed for African Americans. As historian Edna Green Medford points out in her SIU Press book, you might be surprised to find out that many popular documents mention freedoms that African Americans did not get to experience at the time they were written.

You can download and record your answers in the activity packet.