As we plow through the holiday season on our way to New Year's, it's well worth stopping for a second to remember an event from a century and a half ago. January 1, 2013, just happens to be the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. As any schoolkid (or anyone who's seen Lincoln in the theater recently) can tell you, the Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln in the middle of the Civil War as a bold statement to all Southern slaves that they could now consider themselves free. It effectively changed the purpose of the Civil War as well. This... More >>>