What is Emancipation Day?The DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 ended slavery in Washington, DC, freed 3,100 individuals, reimbursed those who had legally owned them and offered the newly freed women and men money to emigrate. It is this legislation, and the courage and struggle of those who fought to make it a reality, that we commemorate every April 16, DC Emancipation Day. |
As a part of the Library of Congress on going series "The Civil War in America", Adrienne Cannon, from the staff of the Library's Manuscript Division, presents a lecture based on the leading Abolitionist of African heritage in America, Frederick Douglass; and the Civil War.
