African American Soldiers

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared with the Emancipation Proclamation that all slaves on the Confederacy parts of the country were free. The Emancipation Proclamation also stated that slaves were free to serve in the Union army and navy. Although African Americans had been serving already, since the beginning of the war. Many thought that allowing African American men to fight in the war was a step towards equality for all. For the African American men serving had a much different meaning, since they were fighting for their own freedom.

According to the article The Civil War, there were “one out of every eight” African Americans soldiers on the Union by the end of the war. This picture they say, is significant because it shows African American soldiers standing in front of a building were slaves “were held for auction, stripped, examined, and bought and sold before interested purchasers.”