PHOTO: Emancipation Proclamation, 1st California printing, 1864 (Courtesy CA State Library)
The California State Library is celebrating Juneteenth with a display of items from its collection documenting the African American experience in the state during the years leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation and after.
Among the many treasures on exhibit are the first California printing of the Emancipation Proclamation (San Francisco, 1864) and a bill of sale by Thomas of Tennessee, a slave who came west in 1850 with slaveholder J.B. Gilman to work in the gold mines and two years later had saved $1,000 to buy his freedom. Also on view are photos of Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight boxing champion, as he trained in San Francisco for a fight that took place in 1909.
The exhibit is in the main lobby of the library at 900 N Street in Sacramento. It is open weekdays from 8am-5pm and is free to the public.
For more information, visit www.library.ca.gov.
