A free program on the Civil War will be held at 2 p.m. June 22 at the Niles Law Enforcement Complex, 1600 Silverbrook Ave., Niles.

Presenters include Robert Myers, curator of the History Center at Courthouse Square in Berrien Springs; John Urschel, author of “Michigan Boys in Blue;” Donna Ochenryder, Niles historian; and Rex Dillman, 1860s musician.

Jan. 1, 2013, was the 150th anniversary of the Proclamation of Emancipation signed by President Abraham Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862, to take effect Jan. 1, 1863.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared, “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are and, henceforward, shall be free.”

Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After Jan. 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.