Celebrate the emancipation proclamation

As my regular readers know, the United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War by calling it the War Between the States, having brothers who fought on both sides marching together and excluding blacks entirely. The 100th anniversary was not celebrated at all in 1965.  The 100th anniversary was missed because Americans were just then legally ending Jim Crow and giving blacks legal voting rights.

It is time to think ahead.  We should plan to celebrate the signing of Emancipation Proclamation by the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, in the Lincoln bedroom (the Obama's know this). The date of the 150th Anniversary of the signing is September 22, 2012.  The anniversary of it implementation is January 1st 2013.

That will prepare us for the April 9th 2015, the 150th anniversary of the surrender of General Lee at the Appomattox Court House.  We could also celebrate the May 10th capture of the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. I think that this time, unlike 1965, having had a black president, America will be ready to celebrate the end of the Civil War and actually mark the end of that war.