Left: Copy of the Emancipation Proclamation Celebration in New Orleans, as presented to President Abraham Lincoln. Right: A letter written to President Lincoln from Thomas Jefferson Durant explaining the gift was inserted within this copy. (Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana / Mississippi State University)

BEFORE JUNETEENTH: A firsthand account of “freedom’s earliest celebrations,” a series of jubilees in NOLA in 1864. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... #NotJustJuneteenth #FreedomDays #BlackCalendarofFreedom #EmancipationDays