Mayor Bowser, flanked by (from L-R) At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange, D.C. Senator Michael Brown, D.C. Senator Paul Strauss, Senior Advisor Beverly Perry, and D.C. Secretary of State Lauren Vaughan. (Photo by Rachel Kurzius)

It’ll be 154 years since legislation freed 3,185 District of Columbia slaves on April 16, 1862, more than eight months before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet D.C. still doesn’t have full representation.

“We honor the many champions who have fought for civil rights and equality,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser on a sunny morning in Freedom Plaza, with the Capitol in view, “as we renew our push for full democracy and statehood.”

Flanked by At-large Councilmember Vincent Orange, D.C. shadow Senators Paul Strauss and Michael Brown, senior advisor Beverly Perry, and D.C. Secretary of State Lauren Vaughan, Bowser announced the activities for upcoming Emancipation Day, which last decade became a legal public holiday in the District. And, in what has become one of the holiday’s traditions, the mayor made the case for why statehood remains a priority.

“It’s not just us whining or groaning” about statehood, Bowser said. She brought up Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s upcoming appearance this afternoon on Capitol Hill. Before he speaks in front of Congress, senators from Maryland and Virginia will grill him at a closed door meeting. While D.C. is one of Metro’s biggest funders, Strauss and Brown were behind Bowser rather than behind those closed doors. Statehood is “also about the very practical effects of not having two senators at those meetings,” she said.

Bowser called the recent budget autonomy ruling “an incremental step” towards statehood, and asked for the crowd’s continued work and creativity towards making D.C. the 51st state.

In his remarks, Strauss thanked Bowser’s administration for being a partner in the struggle. “We appreciate that the administration is backing statehood with resources we haven’t had before.”

For his part, Orange pointed out that “we are actually impacting the entire nation,” because Emancipation Day’s timing has pushed back the IRS’s deadline for tax filings.

He also expressed his faith that the mayor’s office would be a “secure” steward of Emancipation Day, following an agreement in 2014 that the executive branch rather than D.C. Council would be in charge of the holiday’s celebrations.

Those activities include a breakfast on Friday morning to discuss civil rights and statehood, a number of panel discussions, and Saturday’s Emancipation Day parade.

Bowser noted that the 1 p.m. parade follows the Cherry Blossom Parade, and invited participants in the latter to “stick around and learn about Emancipation Day as well.”

Following the parade, there’ll be a concert in Freedom Plaza because, as Bowser said, “it’s also important that Washingtonians meet each other and have a little fun.” Acts include Rare Essence, Black Alley, and more, as well as what Bowser deemed “my favorite”—what’s called a truck touch. Municipal vehicles like dump trucks and snow plows will be parked around the plaza so kids can touch them.

Fireworks will follow because “it wouldn’t be Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia without fireworks,” Bowser said.

Senator Brown brought up a D.C. Tax Day Protest that will start on Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Freedom Plaza. Participants plan to march to the Capitol, to the “435 people that have been our overseers for the past 215 years,” he said.

D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton will give a series of speeches on the floor of the House of Representatives calling for statehood “whenever she can secure floor time,” she said in a release. “On Emancipation Day we look to the unfinished business of freedom here in the nation’s capital.”

For a full slate of the weekend’s events, you can check out emancipation.dc.gov.

Emancipation Day also comes with the following street closures for Saturday:

From 7:30 a.m. to 12 a.m:

• E Street, NW, from 14th Street to 13th Street, NW
• Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, from 14th Street to 12th Street, NW
• 13th Street, NW, from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

From 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.:

• Indiana Avenue, NW, from 7th Street to 3rd Street, NW
• 6th Street, NW, from D Street to C Street, NW

From 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.:

• Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, from 14th Street to 4th Street, NW
• All streets crossing Pennsylvania Avenue from 14th Street to 4th Street will be closed between E Street & Constitution Avenue, NW