By Lesley Gist, The Gist of Freedom

Lincoln – “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free!”

It was Jubilee Day, Jan. 1, 1863. In Washington, President Abraham Lincoln was expected to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. It declared that the enslaved held in the rebel states that had seceded “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

In Boston, a hotbed of the anti-slavery movement, people were gathered and waiting at Boston Music Hall and Tremont Temple. A “Grand Jubilee Concert” was held at the Music Hall. The front of the program read “The Day! The Proclamation! The Emancipation Of The Slave!”

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