The White House Blog

To mark African American History Month, as well as the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, we talked with White House Curator Bill Allman about a painting called Watch Meeting--Dec. 31st 1862--Waiting for the Hour that hangs near the Oval Office in the West Wing.

The painting, completed in 1863 by William Carlton, shows a group of African American men, women and children waiting for the clock to strike midnight -- the hour the Emancipation Proclamation would go into effect. 

Check it out, and learn why President Obama chose this painting to hang in the West Wing.