(Washington Informer) — Discussions of expanding the voting rights of Washingtonians dominated the events and festivities that surrounded the city’s holiday commemorating the emancipation of Blacks from slavery.
The District government closed, Fri., April 16 in honor of D.C. Emancipation Day – the date in which President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed 3,100 enslaved Blacks in the city and compensated their masters for their losses in 1862.