President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary order for the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Although by January 1st the document was signed, it was a few years before black freedom was recognized in the South.
One of the first tools for change was education. Now that former slaves could be taught to read and write, funding was needed for the schools. In New Orleans, abolitionists sold pictures that showed very light-skinned mixed-race slave children longing to read. To the naked eye, the children appeared to be Caucasian.
