On January 1st, 2024, the brothers of Maceo Elks Lodge #8 once again exhibited our four leading principals of Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity by participating in the 161st Lincoln-Douglas Emancipation Proclamation celebration.

The Emancipation Proclamation celebration was held of the campus of Edward Waters University. Brothers Al Marshall, Will Nichols, Elvin Hooper, George Greenhill and William Elliott acted as ushers for the event. As a special note Brother Al Marshal is the Vice President of the Lincoln-Douglas Memorial Emancipation Association Inc.

By executive order, on September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It ordered that all persons held as slaves would be free. However the Proclamation of January 1, 1863 gets most of the attention, but it was the Proclamation of September 22, 1862, that laid much of the legal foundation.