On Wednesday, District and national leaders will march through Washington’s monument core to kick off the 150th-anniversary celebration of a local holiday that marks the end of slavery in the nation’s capital.
D.C.’s Emancipation Day is officially April 16. But organizers have queued up a series of events all week to highlight the holiday’s impact on the area — other than, of course, giving local residents yet one more day to file their state and federal tax returns.
Wednesday’s march is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at the Lincoln Memorial, followed by stops at the Jefferson Memorial and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. It will conclude at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial about 5 p.m. The Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to speak, as are D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown.
| A sampling |
| Ongoing: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act is on display at the Capitol Visitor Center as part of the Congress/Civil War exhibit. |
| 2 p.m. Wednesday: Opening ceremony/march through the monuments |
| 7 p.m. Thursday: Jazz/comedy night at the Lincoln Theatre |
| 7 p.m. Friday: Jazz/comedy night at the Lincoln Theatre |
| 6 p.m. Saturday: Black Entertainment Television sponsors the Great Debate at Lincoln Theatre. |
| 2:30 p.m. Sunday: D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and others participate in panel discussion about President Lincoln’s views on D.C. emancipation at the Lincoln Cottage/Soldiers’ Home. |
| 11 a.m. Monday: Emancipation Day Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest between Third Street and city hall. |
The route of the march, which will involve closing off Ohio Drive Southwest along the Tidal Basin for a portion of the afternoon, is designed around leaders who stood for equality and freedom, said D.C. Councilman Vincent Orange, who is heading up a committee in charge of Emancipation Day.
“This is about making folks aware — I don’t think people really quite know what this holiday is about,” said Orange, who said he hoped up to 3,000 people would attend some part of the march. “It’s a piece of history that has been ignored for a long time.”
President Lincoln signed the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, more than eight months before the well-known Emancipation Proclamation that freed all slaves under Union control. The act in the District freed 3,100 people and compensated Union-friendly owners up to $300 while giving up to $100 to newly freed slaves who stayed in the country. It brought a conclusion to decades of agitation aimed at ending what anti-slavery advocates called “the national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital.
Emancipation Day celebrations were held annually throughout the rest of the 1800s but were halted during the 20th century. Celebrations was brought back in 2002 when the council declared it a local holiday.
The celebration will culminate Monday with a prayer breakfast at the Willard InterContinental hotel to be attended by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory and Norton. Sharpton is scheduled as the keynote speaker.
The breakfast will be followed by a parade in which 3,100 people will each represent a freed slave. The parade will conclude at Freedom Plaza, where Jackson is the scheduled speaker.
Orange estimates about 5,000 people will attend the parade. He said the city has budgeted a total of $250,000 for all Emancipation Day events while private partners are also helping with costs. The federal government is paying for much of Wednesday’s march, as it is designated a First Amendment event.
