MEDIA ADVISORY
April 13, 2012 For further information contact
Estell Lloyd at elloyd@dccouncil.us
202-724-8035
Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Rev. Joel Osteen & Dick Gregory Confirmed for DC Emancipation Day 150th Anniversary Prayer Breakfast
Willard Hotel Monday, April 16th @ 8:00 AM followed by Parade @ 11:00 AM
(Washington, D.C.) – DC Councilmember Vincent Bernard Orange, Sr. (D-At-Large) is pleased to announce Reverend Al Sharpton as the keynote speaker for the DC Emancipation Day 150th Anniversary Prayer Breakfast this Monday, April 16, 2012, 8:00 AM at the Willard Hotel. Reverend Joel Osteen, Joel Osteen Ministries, Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Founder, Rainbow/PUSH and Dick Gregory, Civil Rights Activist will bring greetings.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent C. Gray and DC Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown will provide welcome remarks.
Reverend Sharpton, Reverend Jackson and Dick Gregory are scheduled to march in the DC Emancipation Day Parade commencing at 11:00 AM representing the 3,100 enslaved persons released from bondage on April 16, 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act.
Reverend Jesse Jackson will be the keynote speaker for the public program commencing on Freedom Plaza at 2:30 PM.
Following the public program a free concert on Freedom Plaza will commence at 4:00 PM featuring an extraordinary jazz saxophonist, Brian Lenair; at 5:00 PM Familiar Faces; at 6:00 PM Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes; and at 7:00 PM Jean Carne.
The celebration will conclude with a Fireworks Display at 8:30 PM on Pennsylvania Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets NW.
Bates Area Civic Association 