A 300 yr-old Live Oak tree on the campus of Hampton University in Virginia stuns visitors with its strength and beauty. It’s also an enduring symbol of a watershed moment in American history - the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, which freed enslaved people in the rebel states.
How could a tree play a role in that momentous event, at least locally? What did emancipation truly mean to African-Americans in 1863? How does the tree still inspire the hearts and imagination of people today?