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Playlist Watch Night

Watch Night

Image: Heard & Moseley, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-ppmsca-10980)

Why Black Americans Celebrate Watch Night on New Year's Eve

Tim Russell

On December 31, 1862, free Blacks and Black slaves gathered to await the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation on New Year's Day. The Black community has continued to celebrate Watch Night or Freedom's Eve ever since.
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