The Great Emancipator

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Warm-up Activity: How Do We Become Free?

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. In the image below, look for clues about how the illustrator used creative techniques to present Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator.” Though the African Americans in this image would be soon experience emancipation, how long do you think it would be until they experienced all of the freedoms you explored in the previous activity (e.g. freedom to vote)?

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