TIFTON — The annual Emancipation Proclamation signing service of observance will be 3 p.m., Jan. 1 at Eagle’s Wings Judah Worship Center.

The speaker for this year’s observance is the Rev. Samuel B. Brown.

Reverend Brown is from Sparks, Ga. by way of Jacksonville, Fla.

He now resides in Valdosta, and currently serves as the pastor of New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church in Adel.

Additionally, he serves as vice moderator of the Nashville Missionary Baptist Association, and he is employed at JC Penney as the Replenishment Supervisor.

In a press release from the local Emancipation Proclamation Committee, Brown is cited as “a loving man who has a heart for God and God’s people” as well as “a man who always looks for the good in others.”

The service, which is put on by the local Emancipation Proclamation Committee and hosted by the Rev. Reather Campbell, pastor at Eagle’s Wings Judah Worship Center, will celebrate the 154th anniversary of the signing of the document.

The Emancipation Proclamation was originally signed Jan. 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln.

The proclamation and executive order, which applied to the Southern states only, was intended to not only free the slaves in the South, but in doing so cripple the Confederacy, which relied on slave labor to support their armies on the front.

The proclamation effectively changed the focus of the war, making one of the aims of the war effort not only to preserve the union, but to free the slaves as well.

The Emancipation Proclamation also paved the way for African Americans to fight in the Unites States Armed Forces, with over 200,000 doing so by the end of the war.

By the end of the war, the Proclamation’s influence led to complete abolition of slavery in the United States with the passing of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Several area churches are also hosting Watch Night services on Dec. 31.

New Beginnings Worship Center in Enigma is holding a Watch Night service at 8 p.m.

Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Ashburn will host a service starting at 10 p.m.

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Alapaha is hosting a service from 8 p.m.—midnight.