Events - Event View

Emancipation Day is an American holiday celebrated in the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) each year on April 16th. It marks the day US President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which granted freedom to more than 3,000 slaves in the nation's capital, nine months before Lincoln issued his broader Emancipation Proclamation freeing 3.5 million slaves in the rebel-held American South. Three years later, the United States ratified the 13th Amendment, which formally outlawed slavery. In 2005, Washington DC Mayor Anthony Williams signed legislation making Emancipation Day an official public holiday, which is also observed by the federal government.