What does Watch Night mean for Black Americans today?

The tradition of Watch Night services in the United States dates back to Dec. 31, 1862, when many Black Americans gathered in churches and other venues, waiting for President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to become law, and thus free those still enslaved in the Confederacy. It’s still being observed each New Year’s Eve, at many multiracial and predominantly Black churches across the country. As the Civil War raged on, Lincoln issued an executive order Sept. 22, 1862, declaring enslaved people in the rebellious Confederate states were legally free. However, this decree — the Emancipation Proclamation — would not take effect until the stroke of midnight heralding the new year. The original Emancipation Proclamation is displayed Feb. 18, 2005, in the Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Those gathering on the first Watch Night included many African Americans who were still legally enslaved as they assembled, sometimes in secrecy. People are also reading… “At the time, enslaved Black people could find little respite from ever-present surveillance, even in practicing their faith,” the National Museum of African American History and Culture explains. “White enslavers feared that religion, which was often used to quell slave resistance, could incite...