Lecture on the 1848 Pearl Affair Tonight

By DCist Contributor Matt Pelkey

On the Fourth of July you light fireworks, on Memorial Day you grill hunks of meat, and on Labor Day you grill more hunks of meat. But how should you celebrate Emancipation Day this Monday?

The voting rights march leaves little excuse for perverting another holiday into reason for a meaningless leisure activity. But if for some reason you can't be at the march, make up for it by heading to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library tonight at 6:30 p.m. for an educational session on the 1848 Pearl affair.

Never heard of the Pearl affair? While Emancipation Day technically celebrates the April 16, 1862 signing of a bill by President Abraham Lincoln ending slavery in the District of Columbia (which came 9 months before Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation), the holiday also coincides roughly with the anniversary of the night of April 15, 1848, when 77 slaves escaped from their quarters and boarded the sailboat Pearl near Seventh Street SW. A white captain set course down the Potomac, planning to sail them north from the Chesapeake Bay to freedom, but inclement weather forced the ship to anchor at the mouth of the river and it was overtaken by armed men in pursuit of the escaped slaves. The posse towed the Pearl back to D.C., where those aboard were imprisoned. Furious over the attempted escape, mobs accosted an antislavery congressman and stormed the office of an abolitionist newspaper. The flight on the Pearl and ensuing mob violence sparked tumultuous debate in Congress and furthered growing opposition to slavery in the North.

Cultural Tourism DC has a marker planned for the spot commemorating the Pearl Affair on their African American Heritage Trail. If you can't make it to the lecture tonight, there are many other Emancipation Day events this week that might be more to your liking.

Photo by maxedaperture.