In January 1863, Lincoln signed the historic Emancipation Proclamation into law, a critical step toward abolishing slavery in the United States. Despite common belief, the act freed slaves in select states, not all. In this edition of Moments in Civil Rights History, a collaboration of Comcast and the Equal Justice Initiative, a hallmark executive action lays the groundwork for the 13th Amendment — but not before two more bloody years of war test the nation's resolve. | Voices of the Civil Right

Emancipation

A new emancipation monument was unveiled in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday that features two 12-foot bronze statues — one of a woman holding an infant and one of a man freed from chattel slavery. The monument project first began in 2013, when the Virginia Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission wanted to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in Confederate territory to be free in 1863. The monument was designed by O