District officials have planned a day full of song, dance and celebration for residents celebrating the 144th anniversary of the Emancipation Act.
This is the second year the city has made the anniversary an official city holiday commemorating President Abraham Lincoln’s April 16, 1862, signing of the act freeing thousands of slaves in the District of Columbia.
And luckily for thousands of government workers, it happened to fall Easter Sunday, which shifted observation of the holiday to today. All D.C. government employees are off work today.
Today’s festivities kick off at 11 a.m. with a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue that will feature Mayor Anthony Williams and D.C. Council member and mayoral hopeful Vincent Orange in a horse-drawn carriage.
Civil rights icon Dorothy I. Height, president emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. will receive the Emancipation Day Lifetime Achievement Award and keys to the city. Following the parade is a concert featuring gospel favorites Vickie Winans and Yolanda Adams at Freedom Plaza, across from the John A. Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“This is a historical occasion ,and we should also use this opportunity to renew our commitment in the struggle for full and complete home rule in the District of Columbia,” Mayor Williams said in a statement.
Schedule for Emancipation Events Today
» 11 a.m.: Parade along Pennsylvania Avenue between Fourth and 14th streets NW
» 1:30 p.m.: Emancipation Day Program at Freedom Plaza with lifetime acheivement awards to Dr. Dorothy I. Height and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.
» 3 p.m.: Bell-ringing ceremony at the Old Post Office Pavilion
» 4 p.m.: Entertainment at Freedom Plaza including poets, dancers and re-enactors
» 6:30 p.m.: Concert at Freedom Plaza with singers Vickie Winans and Yolanda Adams
» 8:15 pm: Fireworks at Freedom Plaza
