Emancipation Day

TIMEANDDATE.COM/HOLIDAYS - April 16th is Emancipation Day, which is a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. It will be observed this year on Friday, April 15th in Washington DC (extending TAX DAY to Monday, April 18, 2011). Emancipation Day marks the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln [R-IL].

Background
Formal slavery was legal from 1619 until 1865 in the area that is now the United States. Many slaves were of African origin and many slave owners were of European descent, although some other groups also had slaves. By 1860, there were about four million slaves in the United States. On April 16, 1862, Abraham Lincoln [R-IL], who was the US president at the time , signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed more than 3000 slaves in the District of Columbia. However, slavery did not officially end in the rest of the United States until after the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 until 1865.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution [brought forth and fought for by the Republicans] formally ended slavery in the US. It was proposed on January 31, 1865, and ratified by 30 of the then 36 states in the same year. However, it was only ratified in Mississippi in 1995. Slavery and the racial divisions, upon which it was based, have had and continue to have huge implications for individuals and American society as a whole.

Emancipation Day in Washington DC marks the anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act. On January 4, 2005, legislation was signed to make Emancipation Day an official public holiday in the District of Columbia. Elsewhere in the United States, the emancipation of slaves is celebrated in Florida (May 20), Puerto Rico (March 22) and Texas (June 19). [Emphasis added]