Bates Area Civic Association

From ANC Commissioner Thomas:

For those who don’t know the significance of the holiday, April 16th was the date in 1862 that President Lincoln signed an executive order effectively ending slavery in the City of Washington (the District of Columbia, as a legal entity, didn’t actually exist until 1871).  That action predates the more well known “Emancipation Proclamation” which purported to free the slaves in territories still in rebellion against the Union and was put into effect until 8 1/2 months later.  Emancipation Day was celebrated annually from 1866, just after the Civil War ended, until 1901.  Annual celebrations resumed in 2002 and the day became a D.C. holiday in 2005.

Schedule of Events

FRIDAY, APRIL 1- 17:  10am – 7pm Exhibit: Discovering the Civil War
National Archives 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

• District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of
  1862
• Appraisal for Compensation for Freeing Enslaved Servants

Contact: National Archives (202) 357-5000

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 1:00pm Re-Enactment of the March of the Triumphant United States
Colored Troops into the city of Richmond, Virginia
Vermont Avenue and “U” St., NW
African American Civil War Memorial

Infantry and Calvary regiments of the U.S.C.T. of the XXVth Army
Corps were among the first Union Army units to enter the city

Contact: Peter Bailey (301) 562-8300 apeterb@verizon.net

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 30: History on Foot Walking Tour

• Walking tours featuring actors portraying Elizabeth Keckly, a seamstress and former slave, who became Mary Todd Lincoln’s confidant
• Detective McDevitt, of the Metropolitan Police who investigated President Lincoln’s assassination.

There are several tours a day.

Contact: 202-347-4833 http://www.fordstheatre.org

SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 16
9:00am – 6pm “Salute to Women of the DC Statehood Movement”
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Level G, Atrium
Entrance on “D” Street

• Pictorial Exhibit

Contact: National Capital Veteran’s Coalition (202) 409-8060

SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 30

10:30am Ford’s Theater: One Destiny
Ford’s Theatre 511 10th Street, NW

• Commemoration of the Assassination of President Lincoln
• Revisit the events of April 14, 1865
• Learn all about the assassination from the perspective of two men who were there
• Explore key facts of the assassination
• Capture the emotions of that fateful night

Contact: (202) 347-4833 http://www.fordstheatre.org

SUNDAY, APRIL 10
5:00pm – 7:00pm A Celebration of Emancipation with Poetry and Prose
Busboys and Poets – 1025 5th St., NW (5th & K Sts, NW)

Reciting the works of:

• Langston Hughes: The Racial Divide
• Sterling Brown: Strong Black Men Keep A Coming
• Zora Neal Hurston: The Struggle Within Me
• Toni Asante Lightfoot: Our Fore Parents Were Slaves

Contact: DC Archives (202) 671-1105 http://www.os.dc.gov/

MONDAY, APRIL 11
6:30pm – 8:00pm Celebrating Emancipation: Setting the Captives Free
1378 Division Avenue & Ames St, NE – Capital View Baptist Church

• Faith and Freedom
• The Role of the Church in the Struggle for Emancipation
• A Quest for Freedom

Contact: John Fowler (202) 398-1378

TUESDAY, APRIL 12
11:00am – 2:00pm Forum: “The Coming Hour” – Emancipation or Extermination
African American Civil War Museum
1925 Vermont Avenue, Grimke Building Annex

• Commemoration of the beginning of the Civil War
• Response of the contemporary press to the 1860 Presidential election of
  Abraham Lincoln
• Response of the African American press and leaders on the firing on
  Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861
• Selected readings of Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, Martin
  Delaney, Jacob Dobson, and others

Contact: Frank Smith (202) 369-5119 http://www.afroamcivilwar.org

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
1:00 noon– 2:00pm Emancipation Reflections
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
1318 Vermont Avenue, NW

• Honoring the Scholarship of Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke
• Celebrating the Triumphs of the “First Freed”

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis (202) 806-6815
eclark-lewis@howard.edu Dr. Joy Kinard (202) 673-2402

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
6:30pm – 8:00pm Emancipation Day: A Tribute and Celebration
925 Madison Street N.W. Berean Baptist Church

• Libation to the Ancestors
• Icons of the Movement for Equality
• A Journey for Freedom and Justice
• The Struggle Continues

Contact: Robert Childs (202) 829-8454

THURSDAY, APRIL 14
10:00am – 12:00pm Forum: DC Government Emancipation Day
Location to be determined

• Political Oppression: A Struggle for Freedom
• Slavery, Emancipation, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement
• The Struggle for Congressional Representation
• Home Rule and the Struggle for Self-Determination

Contact: Bill Branch DC Archives (202) 671-1105
http://www.os.dc.gov/

THURSDAY, APRIL 14
2:00 – 3:30pm Giant Foods Emancipation Day Community Celebration
6315 5th Street NW – Coolidge High School

• Slavery in the District of Columbia
• From Slavery to Freedom
• District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act
• Senator Henry Wilson: Author of the Emancipation Act

Contact: Dr. Wendell Moore (301) 509-8640

THURSDAY, APRIL 14

5:30pm – 7:00pm An Emancipation Day Tribute to Myrtilla Miner
4200 Connecticut Avenue N.W. University of the District of Columbia, Auditorium (A03)

• UDC Celebrating 160 Years of Serving our Community
• Celebrating the Contributions of Myrtilla Minor
• Historical Overview on the life of Myrtilla Minor
• Dr. Timothy Jenkins – Speaker

Contact: Dr. Sheila Harmon-Martin (202) 274-5787
smartin@udc.edu

THURSDAY, APRIL 14
6:00pm – 8:00pm Blow Pierce Friendship Public Charter School Emancipation Day
Program
725 19 Street NE

• From Enslavement to Emancipation
• The Pearl: An Escape on the Potomac
• The Abolitionist Movement in the District of Columbia
• Home Rule and the Struggle for Self-Determination

Contact: Dale Lyons (202) 321-8844

THURSDAY, APRIL 14
7:00pm – 9:00pm Emancipation Day Film Festival
400 I Street, SW – Westminster Presbyterian Church

• From Slavery to Emancipation
• The Institution of Slavery
• The Debate on Slavery and Emancipation
• From Civil War to Civil Rights

Contact: (202) 484-7700 http://www.westministerdc.org

FRIDAY, APRIL 15
8:00am – 1:30am Emancipation Day of Service: Ceremony and Clean-up
Historic Woodlawn Cemetery – 4611 Benning Road, SE

• Libations to the Ancestors
• Ceremony Consecration of Hallowed Grounds
• Dedication and Tribute to the Ancestors
• Clean up of Sacred Grounds

Contact: Tyrone F. General (301) 613-6002
papageneral@comcast.net
CONTINUES SATURDAY, APRIL 16

FRIDAY, APRIL 15
12:00 noon –4:00pm Emancipation Holiday Day Festival
Vermont Avenue and U Street, N.W.
African American Civil War Memorial

● Civil War and Emancipation Re-Enactments
● Frederick Douglass Re-Enactment Speeches
● Poetry and Music
● Exhibits

Contact: Frank Smith (202) 369-5119 http://www.afroamcivilwar.org

FRIDAY, APRIL 15
6:00 pm –10:00pm Ward 5 Emancipation Day Celebration
701 24th Street NE

● Black History Stage Play and Youth Gospel Jam
● Northwest Baptist Church Youth Gospel Choir
● Songs One Hundred Gospel Group
● Northwest Mind Team Ministry

Contact: Bernice Blackwell (202) 399-1370
Marjorie Thomas Barnes (202) 450-6397

SATURDAY, APRIL 16
6:30am – 8:00am Emancipation Day, Daybreak Ceremony
Emancipation Statue, Lincoln Park
(East Capital and 11th Streets, NE)

● Libations to the Ancestors
● Dedication to the Ancestors
● Reciting the names of the 3,100 “First Freed”
• Consecration of Memorial to the “First Freed”

Contact: (202) 232-2500 or 635-9337 Friends_DCED@yahoo.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 16
10:00am – 12:00am Emancipation Day Memorial Wreath Laying Ceremony
Vermont Avenue and U Street, N.W. – African American Civil War Memorial

● Music
● Program
● Wreath Laying
● Proclamation

Contact: Frank Smith (202) 369-5119 http://www.afroamcivilwar.org

SATURDAY, APRIL 16
11:00am -12:30am Annual DC Emancipation Day Commemoration, Rally and March
Franklin Square (I Street, between 13th and 14th Streets)

● Songs and Celebration Honoring the Ancestors
● Rally & March to the Washington Historical Society
● Re-Enactments
● Speeches

Contact: (202) 232-2500 or 635-9337 Friends_DCED@yahoo.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 16
11:00am – 1:00pm Saying Their Names: Telling Their Story
Walter C. Pierce Community Park – Between Calvert Street and
Adams Mill Road, NW
(Just East of Rock Creek Park and Duke Ellington Bridge)

● Commemoration of 8,428 buried in the African-American and Quaker
Cemeteries in Adams Morgan
● Beneficiaries of the DC Compensated Emancipation Act
● The 149th Anniversary of the DC Compensated Emancipation Act
● The 163rd Anniversary of the 77 who Attempted to Escape on the Pearl

Contact: Mary Belcher (202) 462-9069 maryjbelcher@comcast.net

SATURDAY, APRIL 16
1:00noon-3:30pm Community Commemoration of DC Emancipation Day
Washington Historical Society – 801 K St., NW

● Poetry Slam
● Exhibits
● Music
● Re-Enactment

Contact: (202) 232-2500 or 635-9337 Friends_DCED@yahoo.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 16
10:00am – 4:00pm DC I AM: An Emancipation Day Celebration
1145 17th Street, NW – National Geographic Museum

● Civil War Re-Enactments
● Engaging and educational documentary on the history and background
of the DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862
● Radio One on-air personalities
● Art Activities
● Locally and nationally recognized scholars
● The Pearl Coalition
● “America I Am” Exhibit

Contact: Lisa McKee, Elena Guarinello (202) 857-7154
natgeomuseum@ngs.org

SATURDAY, APRIL 16 – 17
10:00am – 7:00pm National Black Memorabilia, Art, Doll & Collectible Show
16 Chestnut Street, Montgomery County Fairgrounds,
Gaithersburg, Md.

● Vendors from across the nation
● Fine art, dolls and collectibles
● Historical artifacts and documents
● Books, stamps, toys
● Prints, paintings, photos
● Jim Crow memorabilia
● Buffalo Soldiers
● Celebrities

Contact: (301) 649-1915 http://www.johnsonshows.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 21

12 noon to 1:00pm The Legacy of the First Freed: Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis
Library of Congress Madison Building

● Sponsored by the Daniel A.P. Murray African American Culture
Association
● 3,100 First Freed
● Abolitionist Movement in the District of Columbia
● The DC Compensated Emancipation Act

Contact: Samuel Perryman 240-595-4207 sper@loc.gov

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

11:00am – 12:30pm Genealogical Research: Find Your Civil War Ancestors
1300 Naylor Court, NW DC Archives

● Civil War Era Birth Certificates
● Civil War Era Wills and Probate Records
● Civil War Era Marriage Certificates
● Civil War Era Death Certificates

Over two and a half million Americans participated in the Civil War
Learn how to find vital (birth, marriage, death), pension, and many other
records of the historical legacy your ancestor left behind.

Contact: Bill Branch DC Archives (202) 671-1105 http://www.os.dc.gov/

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

6:30pm – 8:00pm Conservatism and Liberalism: Ideological Views in the
Movement for Justice and Equality
900 Wesley Place, S.W. – DC Public Library Southwest Branch

● Documentary: From Enslavement to Emancipation
● Documentary: Drum Major
● Discussion of Issues in the Documentaries
● Questions and Answers Session

Contact: 202-724-4752

SATURDAY, APRIL 30

2:00pm African History & Culture Lecture Series
Upper Marlboro Branch – Public Library
14624 Main Street, Upper Marlboro, Md.

● “Bound for Freedom’s Light: The Story of the U.S. Colored Troops
● Black Participation in the Civil War
● Lecturer – C.R. Gibbs

Contact: 301-627-9330