Recently, PhotoAssist helped develop the U.S. Postal Service’s new Emancipation Proclamation stamp. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. I attended an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History commemorating that historic document along with another milestone in the struggle for civil rights. The exhibit, “Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863, and the March on Washington, 1963,” opened on December 14 and runs through September 15.

For me, the most striking artifact in the Emancipation Proclamation part of the exhibit was the small pair of iron shackles used on the tiny wrists of children. Nothing else depicts the horror of slavery so vividly as those shackles.

I was also especially moved by a framed portrait of an unidentified African-American soldier in Union uniform posing with his wife and two daughters. The couple, like many former slaves, had celebrated emancipation by formalizing their marriage—an act they were denied under slavery.

The exhibit also features an example of a Sibley tent provided by the military for slaves escaping to Union lines. Also known as “contraband tents,” they could house 10-20 people and sheltered thousands of “self-emancipated” slaves during the Civil War.

For historical context and for making Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation come to life, I highly recommend a visit to the “Changing America” exhibit.