Emancipation Day

It is an opportunity to revisit the history of how emancipated people in the U.S. were systematically denied their freedom.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday of notable significance for many African Americans. June 19, 1865, highlights the abolition of slavery in the state of Texas.

President Abraham Lincoln‘s Emancipation Proclamation didn’t become national law until January 1, 1863, which gave millions of slaves their freedom. Before that historic event, the President signed an act abolishing slavery in the Nation’s Capital on this day in 1862. In Washington, D.C., Emancipation Day has been an official public holiday since 2005. SEE ALSO: Benjamin […]

April 16, 1862 marked the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Over 3,000 enslaved persons were freed eight months before the Emancipation Proclamation liberated slaves in the South. The District also has the distinction of being the only part of the United States to have compensated slave owners for freeing enslaved persons they […]