Glossary term
Emancipation Proclamation
1863 order by Abraham Lincoln freeing enslaved people in Confederate states.
Historical context
Emancipation generally means the liberation of a person from slavery, indentured servitude, guardianship, or some other restraint or impediment on their rights imposed under a social system, legal code, etc. More broadly, it is the acquisition of economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, though possibly more generally.