Norton Introduces Resolution Commemorating Emancipation Day

Statement

Last week, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced her resolution commemorating Emancipation Day, which is an official holiday in the District of Columbia. Emancipation Day commemorates President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed 3,100 enslaved people in the District, nine months ahead of the Emancipation Proclamation.

"This year, Emancipation Day came two days before the deadline for filing federal taxes," Norton said. "District residents were the first to be freed from slavery, but we are the last to enjoy the full rights and freedoms of American citizenship. D.C. pays more in federal taxes than 23 states but its residents are still denied voting representation in Congress. We also commemorate the 3,100 enslaved people who were emancipated nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people in the majority of the country."

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