By Micha Green
AFRO D.C. Editor
mgreen@afro.com
Despite the pall of COVID-19 hanging over the nation’s capital, where more than 2,100 people have tested positive for the virus, 72 have died (as of April 15) and with most residents cooped inside, the District of Columbia still has an optimistic reason to celebrate freedom. April 16 is the 158th anniversary of slaves being freed in the District of Columbia- also known as Emancipation Day.
While past years have lent itself to Emancipation Day educational activities, parades, celebrations and major concerts, District residents can still commemorate this important part of the city’s history.
Emancipation Day is on April 16. (Courtesy Photo)
The District of Columbia has an interesting history with slavery. By the 1830s, free Blacks outnumbered the amount of slaves in the nation’s capital. While D.C. thrived from slaves and the slave trade, it was also a hub for aboltionists and free slaves. With it being home to Congress, several Congressman represented states with a booming slave-holding economy, while there were other state Representatives from places where slavery was illegal.
Despite the divided Congress and war-torn nation, nine months before President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, he freed enslaved Black people in the nation’s capital. On April 16, 1862, Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act.
According to the D.C. Governement’s Emancipation Day information guide, The Compensated Emancipation Act abolished slavery in D.C., freed 3,100 slaves, reimbursed legal slave owners and offered monetary support for the newly freed men and women to emigrate from the United States.
Now of course, this act was historic in nature, but according to the D.C. government, this legislation opened up a whole new problem regarding the complete meaning of freedom, citizenship and rights. Further, the expectation for slaves, who had spent their whole lives in the United States, to move to a country or continent to which they have no direct connection, was also an unrealistic ask.
Despite the ambiguous terms surrounding the Compensated Emancipation Act, Emancipation Day became a major celebration in the District. There was an official D.C. Emancipation Day parade from 1866-1901 and celebrations at churches began in 1862 and continued after 1901.
Official Emancipation Day celebrations were re-established in 1991, mainly as a result of the efforts of native Washingtonian, D.C. history scholar and the local Reading is Fundamental founder Loretta Carter Hanes. Hanes restarted the commemoration with an annual wreath laying at Lincoln Park (located on East Capitol Street between 11th and 13th Streets Northeast) at the statue of Lincoln, which was dedicated in 1876 and completely paid for from the donations of former slaves.
Just as Emancipation Day was important in 1862, D.C. still keeps the historic act alive, with an annual commemoration, and while there won’t be any parades or concerts this year as a result of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s stay-at-home order, it is still an opportunity to appreciate the liberties afforded as free African Americans in the nation’s capital. Further, Emancipation Day is a celebration of how far the race, city and country has come
