Day 170 of 365 - Emancipation Oak - is an historic southern live oak tree on the campus of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. The large sprawling oak is 98 feet (30 m) in diameter, with branches extending upward as well as laterally. It is designated one of the 10 Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society and is part of the National Historic Landmark district of Hampton University. In 1863, the Emancipation Oak was the site of the first Southern reading of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. More than two years latter, on June 19, 1865, the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for the enslaved people in Texas, the last reach of slavery in the former Confederate States. It would be six more months before the USA was completely free of slavery when on December 18, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution was prolaimed ending slavery in the last two remaining states, Kentucky and Delaware. #juneteenth #emancipationoak #americanholiday #bnwphotography #bnw #monochrome #365 #365photochallenge2022 (at Emancipation Oak) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce_qbHLO1Au/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=