Honor D.C. Emancipation Day with a walking tour that starts where Black Washingtonians originally celebrated their freedom from enslavement: Franklin Park in downtown D.C.
Starting in 1866, thousands of Black D.C. residents paraded from what was then known as Franklin Square through the city and back to commemorate, April 16, 1862, the date President Abraham Lincoln signed an act that freed all enslaved persons in the District of Columbia. Hear why D.C.’s enslaved were granted freedom nine months before nation-wide emancipation occurred and where annual celebrations were held.
Historic Landmarks of Freedom and Civil Rights in Downtown D.C.
This walk travels between Franklin Park and Mount Vernon Square and features downtown landmarks such as:
- the High Victorian-style Franklin School built following the Civil War and currently home to the Planet Word museum
- the building where the D.C. Statehood Party was first formed
- Asbury United Methodist Church, the oldest African American church in the city remaining on its original site
- Samuel Gompers Park, site of a memorial to labor leader Samuel A. Gompers, founder and first president of the American Federation of Labor;
- the Carnegie Library building centered in Mount Vernon Square, formerly D.C.’s Central Library and one of the city’s few non-segregated public spaces when it opened in 1903
Discover the D.C. History Center
The walk concludes inside the D.C. History Center, located in the Carnegie Library building and the only community-based nonprofit focused on the District’s history.
What is D.C. Emancipation Day?
On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into legislation “An Act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia.” The act freed the 3,100 women, men and children who were still enslaved in Washington, D.C. in 1862. The act also allowed for slaveowners to be compensated up to $300 for each individual they had legally owned. Nine months later, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Day became a public legal holiday for District of Columbia in 2005.
