DC Emancipation Day
The enslaved people in Washington, DC were freed nine months before President Abraham Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, telegraphing the eventual end of slavery to the rest of the nation. On April 16, 1862 President Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, For the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia, making DC residents the "First Freed" by the federal government.
Emancipation Day celebrations were held annually from 1866 (pictured at right) through 1901, and resumed in 2002. In 2005 Emancipation Day was made an official public holiday in the District of Columbia. Each year, a series of educational and commemorative activities is held during the week prior to the holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in Washington, DC.
When Mayor Adrian Fenty came into office in 2007 he dedicated Emancipation Day to the continued pursuit for full Democracy with a Voting Rights March to the United States Capitol demanding equal representation for DC residents in Congress.
In 2009, the Office of the Secretary and the Office of Cable Television produced Enslavement to Emancipation, an hour long documentary examining Washington, DC history from slavery through emancipation. The Office of the Secretary also published the booklet Ending Slavery in the Nation’s Capital*, a 20 page account of DC’s struggle for freedom. Click the links below to view the documentary, the booklet, and other materials relating to DC Emancipation Day.
