"Emancipation Damnation"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2igAUy1RKg8

I acquired the above media from you tube. It is Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation". It is narrated by a gentleman named Chuck Sage. I chose this because we have been reading about slavery and the, shall I say, trivial attempts to abolish slavery.

I had never, before today heard or read the "Emancipation Proclamation". What disturbed me the most, is that Lincoln actually designates particular areas in which slavery would no longer be permissible. "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom... Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued"(http://www.nps.gov/ncro/anti/emancipation.html). To me, this suggests that Lincoln does not necessarily deem slavery as wrong, if there are only designated areas where slavery is abolished. It is similar to what Jackson did when he said that all should be treated equally but yet, had over 200 slaves of his own. "Ex-slave Thomas Hall told the Federal Writer's Project: Lincoln got the praise for freeing us, but did he do it? He gave us freedom without giving us any chance to ourselve and we still had to depend on the southern white man for work, food, and clothing, and he held us out of necessity and want in a state of servitude but little better than slavery"(Zinn, 146).


Personally, I think that the "Emancipation Proclamation" was a step but what provoked it, honestly, and why doesn't it include every state? It should have happened much sooner. Actually, slavery should have never existed in the first place. I still cannot understand how any human being would think that it is normal to force someone to do things against his/her will. I think all of the Amendments implemented and the "Emancipation Proclamation" are pretty much fallacies. If slavery were truly abolished than there would not have been segregation and there would have actually been equal opportunity for African Americans. Things would and should have been different. In fact, there is room for improvement even still today!


Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2igAUy1RKg8

http://www.nps.gov/ncro/anti/emancipation.html

Zinn, Howard.Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom.Chapter 9:pg.146.