Depends on where you were. The proclamation only applied to slaves held by slaveholders in rebellion. So, there were a lot of people still enslaved in the border states (and even in states in rebellion if the slave holder pledged themselves to the Union.) So, it primarily served as an enticement for enslaved African Americans held by the Confederacy to embrace the Union and leave their owners' plantations when opportunity presented itself (like when the Union soldiers were nearby.)

But the larger institution of slavery wasn't eliminated until the war's end in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment. (An amendment which Mississippi failed to ratify until 2013.) At that point, some changes were radical. Individuals left the plantations they'd lived on and sought to reunite with family and loved ones. Many, young and old, sought basic educations. Other changes were barely changes at all as barriers to freedom were implemented on black communities in the form of racial violence and "black codes," many of which through sharecropping effectively bound freedmen to the lands they'd labored on before.

Significant improvements in black life did take place during Reconstruction, albeit for a limited time. But, as far as your question goes, I think that covers what I know of it...