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

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, signed in 1863 at the height of the Civil War, represented a fundamental change in his thinking about freedom, and began a process that ultimately brought an end to slavery in the United States. In the following year, on September 7, 1864, a delegation “of the loyal colored people of Baltimore” arrived at the White House to give a Bible to Abraham Lincoln. “Mr. President,” they said, “. . .we come to present to you this copy of the Holy Scriptures, as