On January 1st, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Recently, Howard University in Washington, DC held a forum of historians discussing Lincoln, his Emancipation decision, and the impact on the country.
 

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On American History TV’s The Civil War: Historian Gary Gallagher argues that the primary motive of the North during the War was to preserve the “Union”—not to emancipate the slaves. However, Union forces “should” be credited with moving emancipation forward.  He presented the keynote address at a symposium on “Emancipation during the Civil War” with the U-S Capitol Historical Society.

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Each week, American History TV sits in on a lecture with one of the country’s college professors. Amy Murrell Taylor teaches at the University of Albany, State University of New York, and this class explores the questions of slave emancipation during the Civil War, leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation.

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History professor Roger Davidson discusses emancipation and U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. Professor Davidson explains how African Americans used the disorder caused by the Civil War to escape enslavement. He also details how former slaves offered their services to Union forces to help bring about the end of slavery. This class took place at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

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On January 1st, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederate states. The National Archives is marking the 150th Anniversary with a free display of the original document December 30th through January 1st. Representatives from the Archives field questions from the press about the history of the document and its importance.

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History professor Caroline Janney addresses how slavery and emancipation played into the process of post-war reconciliation. She also discusses the experiences and memories of Northern and Southern veterans in the war’s aftermath. Ms. Janney spoke at the 2012 Civil War Institute Conference at Gettysburg College.

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On September 22nd, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, ordering the freeing of slaves in any Confederate state that did not cease fighting and return to the Union within 100 days. No Confederate states returned by the deadline, and Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Louis Masur, author of “Lincoln’s Hundred Days,” talks about his book as well as what led up to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. He details why the document was issued as an executive order and discusses Lincoln’s changing opinions on slavery and the Union. President Lincoln’s Cottage hosted this event.

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Stanford University professor Allyson Hobbs specializes in 20th century American history. In this week’s class, students learn about the Great Migration, a period after 1910 when millions of African-Americans moved from the South to areas North and West.

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Saul Cornell discusses his book "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America."  He explores the opposing sides of the gun control debate, arguing that both base their opinions on a flawed understanding of the second amendment.

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“Operation Gold” was a 1950s project conducted by the CIA and the British Intelligence Service to tap into Soviet communications by tunneling from West Berlin into East Berlin, Germany. Known as “Operation Stopwatch” by the British, the 1,500 foot tunnel was active for eleven months, and netted about 40,000 hours of East German telephone conversations - even though the KGB knew about the tunnel before it was built. Retired CIA officer Lou Mehrer tells the story of the Berlin Tunnel at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

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