It was April 16, 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862, freeing over 3000 enslaved people in the District of Columbia. Today, 160 years later, the city is still celebrating.

Sponsored by Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, the Compensated Emancipation Act predated the Emancipation Proclamation by almost eight months, and it brought freedom to the enslaved people of the nation’s capital city. The legislation also compensated slave owners with up to $300 for each freed person.

At the time, abolitionist Frederick Douglass praised the Compensated Emancipation Act.  “I trust I am not dreaming, but the events taking place seem like a dream,”  he wrote. “Not only a staggering blow to slavery throughout the country, but a killing blow to the rebellion — and the beginning of the end for both.”

Douglass’s words would prove right. Just under three years after the legislation became law, the Civil War reached its end on April 9, 1865, with the treasonous confederate rebellion surrendering. Soon after, news would spread throughout the entire nation of the official nationwide abolition of slavery.

In 2005, the District of Columbia City Council passed D.C. Act 15-082, making Compensated Emancipation Day a public legal holiday for the city. In 2008, Mayor Adrian Fenty created the District of Columbia Emancipation Commission to help coordinate future celebrations.

This morning, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture recognized the city holiday on Twitter, sharing an article from its website.

The city’s celebrations are set to start at 2 p.m. with a parade down Pennsylvania Ave NW (between 10th and 14th Streets NW) led by Mayor Muriel Bowser. The festivities will also include the D.C. Statehood Food Truck Palooza on the north side of Freedom Plaza. The trucks will offer a variety of food including gourmet hot dogs, soul food, pizza, ribs, Mexican food, and more.

Following the parade, at 3 p.m., the family-friendly All Star Emancipation Day Concert at Freedom Plaza will feature performances by Ceelo Green, Junkyard Band, Crystal Waters, Slick Rick, DJ Kool, Dior Ashley Brown and the Filthy Animals, Ramsey Renee, Alfredo Mojica & Friends, Crochet Kingpin, Jessey Lee, The Eastern High School Marching Band, The Nation’s Capital Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc., and Miss District of Columbia 2021 Andolyn Medina singing our National Anthem.

The day’s celebration will end with a fireworks display at Freedom Plaza at 8 p.m.

Not to be confused with Juneteenth, which is also known as Emancipation Day, the D.C. city holiday recognizes the historic emancipation of enslaved people in our nation’s capital one year into the Civil War. The historic act was an early victory for the abolitionist cause.