I'm creating a presentation on what my Professor calls the "Equal Rights Act of 1863", which is the Emancipation Proclamation. The project's requirements are to identify the founding landmark laws, the effect this act has on employers, employees, and taxpayers today, along with liberal and conservative viewpoints that people have about those effects today.

Through days of research, I still have come up short as to why the Emancipation Proclamation itself has any specific relevance to equal opportunity employment today, especially since following the timeline of all the Reconstruction Era decisions like Dred Scott, Brown v. Board, Amendment XIII, the CRA of 1866 and 1875, and then plessy v. ferguson. Specifically, it seems like the CRA of 1964 has more to do with equal opportunity employment than the Emancipation Proclamation and would be more worth focusing on than the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The problem is that there are 5 groups presenting, and it looks like one group's subject is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 already, so presenting that subject would mean taking away from their presentation, and may take away points from our presentation because we should be focusing on the "Equal Rights Act of 1863". I obviously don't want anyone doing the legwork for me in terms of research and facts, but any pointers in the right direction to steer me toward anything I can look into and develop for the presentation will help me a bunch. Thanks in advance, history buffs!