“Waiting for the Hour”

1863

Watch Night is also known as Freedom’s Eve.

On New Year’s Eve 1862, enslaved and free African Americans anxiously waited for the Emancipation Proclamation to take effect. At midnight on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s executive order finally freed African Americans in rebelling states. This image depicts a group of African Americans gathered around a man with a pocket watch, all watching for freedom at midnight.

Today, African American church congregations gather for Watch Night services on New Year’s Eve and wait for the midnight hour as they pray their way into the new year and commemorate the moment of freedom. For many African American communities, Watch Night carries both religious meaning and historical memory.