It was on April 16, 1862 that President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, effectively freeing 3,100 slaves in the District some nine months before a similar step was taken nationwide. While the District officially recognized the day from 1866 to 1901, it wasn’t until 2002 that it was once again elevated to a historic celebration and until last year that it became a citywide holiday.

This year’s celebration of Emancipation Day features a number of events, culminating with a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday. Tonight there are two lectures on slavery in the District prior to emancipation (one at 6 p.m. at the Smithsonian Institution’s Carmichael Auditorium and another at 6:30 p.m. at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House), while on Saturday there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill at 10 a.m. and on a Sunday a concert at the All Souls Church in Columbia Heights at 11 a.m.

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