In a rare public exhibit, one of the nation’s greatest documentary treasures — President Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation — will be on display at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post on Monday, October 15 and Tuesday, October 16.
The draft document banishing slavery in America was written in Abraham Lincoln’s own handwriting in 1863. It will be on display along with the Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Commemoration Speech written and delivered in 1962 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the centennial anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The public may view the documents from 1 to 9 p.m. on both days. School groups, by reservation, will receive guided tours from 9 a.m. to noon. This is the only Long Island location to host the exhibit, titled “First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.” Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.
“LIU Post and Tilles Center for the Performing Arts are pleased and honored to join with the New York State Education Department and SUNY College of Old Westbury in presenting these national treasures to the community,” said Dr. Paul Forestell, provost of LIU Post. “The abolition of slavery transformed our country. To be given the opportunity to see the very pieces of paper that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. touched is a powerful experience.”
The exhibition is made possible by the New York State Education Department and is being offered in partnership with LIU Post, LIU Votes, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and SUNY College at Old Westbury.
LIU Post (formerly known as the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University) is located at 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville, Long Island. Visit www.liu.edu/post/freedom for more information or call 516-299-3500.
