A significant anniversary in state and national history passed by without a great deal of notice a few days ago, but it’s not too late.

Sunday was the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which officially ended slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect in 1863, but President Lincoln and others feared the proclamation would be looked upon as a war measure and not outlaw slavery after the war. So an amendment to the U.S. Constitution was drafted:

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Approved by Congress, the amendment had to be ratified. By the time a sufficient number of states had done so, on Dec. 6, 1865 — North Carolina was next to last, followed by Georgia — the Civil War was over and Lincoln was dead.

Within a few years, the hope that former slaves would be recognized as full citizens with all the rights thereof was nearly dead itself. As Chief Justice Mark Martin noted in a ceremony at the old State Capitol last week, African-Americans were elected to the legislature after ratification — 16 to the state House and three to the state Senate —  but their ascent was short-lived. In the backlash that followed, a white supremacist movement took root, leading to cruel repression and lynching of African-Americans. The 13th Amendment may have been the law of the land, but it was no match for deep-seated prejudice.

The 13th Amendment was one step on a hard-fought journey. It took additional amendments, historic Supreme Court decisions and civil rights legislation to bring us this far. And still, laws can’t control people’s thoughts and prejudices. Talking about today’s minimum wage, the Rev. Curtis Gatewood quipped at the local NAACP banquet Saturday that he thought slavery was over. And while literal lynching has ended, video images of black men being killed by police haunt the nation.

Lincoln’s words from Gettysburg echo through the ages. Our nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, has unfinished work to do.