April 16, 1862 marks 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 held.

• A Historical Overview of Emancipation in Washington, DC
• Ending Slavery in the District of Columbia
• Abolition in the District of Columbia
• The Snow Riot of 1835
• The Pearl Affairs and Riot of 1848
• The Compromise of 1850
• DC Compensated Emancipation Act [PDF]
• District of Columbia Emancipation Day Amendment Act of 2004 [PDF]

Articles on Slavery

• Capitol Slave Labor Studied [PDF]
• Slave Labor and the Capitol: A Commentary [PDF]
• Slave Labor Task Force Works to Tell Story of Blacks in the Capitol [PDF]
• History of Slave Laborers in the Construction of the United States Capitol [PDF]
• About the DC Slave Code [PDF]

The Radical Republicans

From Slavery to the Military

Reconstruction and Post Reconstruction Photos and Documents

Images of Slavery Gallery