African American commemorations for the New Year are diverse. One of the most enduring in the New Year's Night Watch Service. These Watch Night services can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862. This date was known as "Freedom's Eve." Just a few months prior, on September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the executive order, that became known as the Emancipation Proclamation, that declared enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate states legally free. This decreem however, would not take effect until the start of the new year.
On that night, Black people came together in churches, homes, meeting halls across the nation. They waited anxiously as the Emancipation Proclamation would soon become law. At the stroke of midnight, January 1, 1863, all enslaved people in the Confederate states became legally free.
This tradition is continued today in many African American communities. Families gather to pray as the New Year comes in and this is followed by a love feast or a fellowship feast.
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