Fairfield Museum
and History Center will continue its promotion of a ticket stub discount from
the new movie, “Lincoln” for reduced admission to its exhibition, Promise of
Freedom: The Emancipation Proclamation through the engagement of the film.
Visitors, who present a ticket stub, will receive $2 off of an adult admission
to the exhibition, which runs through February 24th, 2013. For more information
www.fairfieldhistory.org or www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.
The Fairfield Museum planned this exhibit as the ideal
educational component for Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking movie, “Lincoln”,
which focuses on the war-weary president’s strategic journey from what he knew
to be the “Band-Aid” fix of the Emancipation Proclamation January 1st, 1863
(150 years ago) to the final passage of the 13th amendment, which promised to
abolish slavery.
The actual 13th amendment still left room for slavery to be
applied as punishment for anyone who commits a crime. Nevertheless, the Proclamation
and the Amendment, which are on display at the Fairfield Museum through
February 24th, 2013, marked the journey towards ending slavery in America.
Promise of Freedom includes not only a rare signed copy of the
Emancipation Proclamation but also an even more rare-signed copy of the
Thirteenth Amendment, signed by Lincoln and by almost all the members of the
House and Senate who voted for it. Both documents are on loan to the museum
from a private collection. The Thirteenth Amendment, which was not fully
ratified by the states until well after Lincoln’s assassination, provided a
stronger foundation for the elimination of slavery than did Lincoln’s
Emancipation Proclamation, which rested on his wartime authority as
commander-in-chief.
Today, there are very few copies of the 13th amendment bearing
Lincoln's signature, like the rare one the Fairfield Museum has in the exhibit.
The reason for this is that after Lincoln signed a several souvenir copies, the
Senate passed a resolution stating that signing souvenirs was unseemly, so he
stopped. Ironically, at the beginning of the Civil War, there was a completely
different 13th amendment proposed, which would have protected slavery. Lincoln
did not always support this amendment and had to be convinced by abolitionists
and women's rights activists that an amendment abolishing slavery was
important.
ABOUT THE FAIRFIELD MUSEUM
The Fairfield Museum creates experiences that make history
personal, engaging and meaningful and in so doing strengthen people’s
connection to the world around them. The Museum’s collection and archive is one
of the most important humanities resources in southwestern Connecticut and a
valuable resource for teaching history and related disciplines. Museum
exhibitions attract more than 18,000 visitors annually from New York to New
Haven, and our educational programs annually serve more than 5,000 students
from southwestern Connecticut. We are committed to providing educational
experiences, particularly to lower income constituencies that allow all
students the opportunity to participate. The Museum is located on 370 Beach St. in Fairfield.
