The "Colored People's Convention of South Carolina" was one of several such gatherings across the South aimed at mirroring the conventions preparing for new post-Confederate elections to which no African-American representation had been invited.  Around fifty delegates from around South Carolina met for five days at the Zion Church on Calhoun Street in Charleston, gathering at mid-morning on November 21, 1865.  (By John Osborne)  

The proposed Thirteenth Amendment had passed the House of Representatives earlier in the year and embarked on its long road toward ratification by the required number of states.  William Henry Seward, Secretary of State, announced on this date that twenty-seven of the thirty-six states had passed the ratification legislation and the required majority of states had been met.  The end of slavery in the United States was complete and its  prohibition was the law of the land.  (By John Osborne)