Congregation celebrates 152 years since Emacipation Proclamation
New Year's Day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves in confederate states free.
Mt. Zion Baptist Church in east Knoxville held a special service Thursday filled with song, scripture and prayer to remember the historical moment. Two Austin-East students also read the proclamation aloud.
Rev. Harold Middlebrook, a civil rights leader and friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said this ceremony was about honoring the past and building a better future.