March with Stand Up! in the DC Emancipation Day parade starting at 4th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW to Freedom Plaza on 14th and Penn. for this historic event!  Program on plaza to follow!  Bring your issue to say:  "First Freed - Last Free!"  African wear, period costumes or chains of the enslaved persons encouraged!

History:   

On April 16, 1862, while the Civil War still raged, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Compensated Emancipation Act which released 3,100 enslaved persons held in involuntary servitude in the District of Columbia.  Each slaveholder was paid an average of $300 per enslaved person.  This law struck a mighty blow against slavery that resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation that abolished slavery across the nation nine months later.   Lincoln’s signing followed active resistance to slavery that included slave rebellions, the Underground Railroad, organized abolition movements and international condemnation of that most cruel of economic institutions.  Yearly DC Emancipation Day celebrations were the most important observance in the African-American community in Washington, DC; exceeding the 4^th of July, Christmas and New Year holidays until the early 1900s.