(Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

The only remaining version of  the  Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting will begin an eight-city tour this week.

The traveling exhibit will be unveiled this Friday at the Schomburg Center for Black Culture in Harlem to mark the 15oth anniversary of the document.

The event will be moderated by MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry.

The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was released by Lincoln on September 22, 1862. The actual Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves was issued on January 1, 1863.

The exhibit will also be featured in Buffalo, Long Island and Rochester before going back on display at the  New York State Museum.

Follow Melissa Noel on Twitter at @noelknowswell.