April 16 marks 161 years since Congress passed the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed enslaved African Americans living in the District and compensated slave owners for each freeperson.
Those freed because of the legislation would later become known as the “First Freed,” a designation that not only hinted at the District’s political significance, but the prestige of Black people who lived and worked in the nation’s capital.
That’s why, as District residents, old and new, gear up for another citywide celebration, some people, like Dr. Sandra Jowers-Barber, are concerned about the cultural and historical importance of D.C. Emancipation Day being lost on District residents, particularly the youth and transients.
In the 2000s, Jowers-Barber attended Howard University (HU) with Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, her colleague and dissertation committee chair who wrote “First Freed,” a collection of essays highlighting the significance of D.C. Emancipation Day. She acknowledged Clark-Lewis, who’s currently a professor of history at HU and director of the school’s public history program, as one of the foremost scholars on D.C. Emancipation Day.
Jowers-Barber also credited Loretta Carter Hanes as a local figure who compelled D.C. Mayor Marion Barry (D) to proclaim D.C. Emancipation Day as a holiday. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams (D) would later sign legislation in 2005 officially making it so. In the decades preceding her death at the age of 90 in 2016, Hanes, along with others, coordinated parades, school assemblies, and panel discussions that commemorated D.C. Emancipation Day.
As Jowers-Barber told the Informer, Hanes gained inspiration sitting at the feet of elders at the Stoddard Baptist Nursing Homes who, during her childhood, recounted their stories of enslavement and finally obtaining freedom under the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act.
That organic, family-oriented spirit of the holiday has been lost amid gentrification, Jowers-Barber said.
“People coming here don’t know the importance of [D.C. Emancipation Day]… so we have to re-establish the parade, the essays, the marches, the importance of it in schools… so that our children and grandchildren will know,” said Jowers-Barber, director of the Division of Humanities and Criminology at the University of the District of Columbia Community College. “Now, with so many things going on, the Cherry Blossoms sort of bump up against Emancipation Day. There’s not a standalone way to impart the significance of it to individuals who are new to the city and those who have been here.”
Exploring D.C. Emancipation Day in Social Studies Instruction
The District’s social studies standards, as they currently stand, mandate instruction about the establishment of Washington, D.C. as the nation’s capital, including the geographic and political reasons for its location, Pierre L’Enfant and Benjamin Banneker’s role in mapping out the city, and Home Rule charters throughout the 19th century.
For the Reconstruction Era, instructors are required to cover, not only D.C. emancipation, but the local abolition movement and the Compromise of 1850 that had outlawed the slave trade in the District years prior.
There are also opportunities to learn about the expansion of public education in D.C. during the Reconstruction Era, major developments within the government, why and how Congress ended Home Rule for D.C. in 1874, how African Americans resisted discrimination, and migration patterns that influenced the racial and cultural composition of District neighborhoods throughout the 20th century.
Ben Williams, Ward 1 D.C. State Board of Education representative and facilitator of an ongoing history standard updating process, said data the Office of the State Board of Education (OSSE) collected showed that while District residents found D.C. history and government standards to be robust, many suggested the further inclusion of subject matter about the local history of Latino and LGBTQ groups.
As it relates to D.C. Emancipation Day, Williams, a U.S. government and D.C. History teacher at Capital City Public Charter School in Northwest, said that the District has ample opportunities for enrichment that teachers and administrators can integrate into their instruction.
“For the standards to come alive, teachers have to work with local institutions like the African-American Civil War Museum and Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library,” Williams said.” We look at D.C. emancipation through our study of Civil War Washington. I would like students to be aware of local events outside of the classroom to commemorate D.C. Emancipation Day this year.”
At Roosevelt High School in Northwest, Cosby Hunt’s U.S. History class briefly touches on D.C. emancipation in the discussion about Thomas Ball’s sculpture in Capitol Hill depicting an enslaved Black man kneeling in front of President Abraham Lincoln with Lincoln’s hand on the Black man’s head.
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, and amid racial justice protests across the country, there had been conversation about dismantling what some have described as a racially insensitive statue. Hunt and his students recently read a news article about the statue. They then engaged in discussion about the statue and its origins, specifically how the formerly enslaved pooled funds to memorialize Lincoln during the Reconstruction Era.
The lesson then culminated with students writing about whether or not they would dismantle the statue.
Hunt, a teacher of 30 years, said that gentrification has sparked interest, among Black and white residents alike, in D.C. history and historical landmarks. He went on to suggest that the District should channel that fervor for District culture into an informative D.C. Emancipation Day celebration.
For several years, Hunt taught D.C. History at Bell Multicultural High School, now known as Columbia Heights Education Campus, and Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School.
While he didn’t touch on D.C. Emancipation Day in depth with his classes, Hunt opted to explore other aspects of D.C.’s slave history, including the Snow riot in 1835, during which a white mob vandalized several Black-owned business homes and churches. Another significant event Hunt touched on involved 77 enslaved Africans who attempted to flee the District on a schooner called the Pearl in 1848.
Hunt conceded that in a U.S. History course, one has to be more methodical about teaching about D.C. emancipation, since the Emancipation Proclamation stands to overshadow it. He however encourages D.C. history teachers to use their discretion to delve deeply into D.C.’s emancipation history. He said his lecture about Ball’s emancipation statue attempted to do so.
“Outside of that statue in the city, I don’t think students have a firm grasp on how emancipation played out in D.C.,” Hunt said. “They would need to go into the weeds of what President Abraham Lincoln signed and what it meant. That’s a pretty particular piece of legislation that, unless you’re a D.C. history teacher, you don’t get into. [That’s why] we have to give D.C. Emancipation Day the love that Juneteenth has gotten in the last three years.”
In Northeast, Laura Fuchs explores similar questions about how to bring D.C. Emancipation Day further into the forefront of her instruction.
In her 16th year in the D.C. public school system, Fuchs serves as a history instructor at H.D. Woodson High School. This year, she’s teaching 12th graders world history and D.C. history, the latter of which she admits took her some time to teach effectively.
Over the course of nearly 50 instructional days, Fuchs and her students cover the history of D.C. starting at the pre-colonial period and ending at the Civil War. When it comes to the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act, Fuchs said her students explore the timing of the legislation and how it inspired other emancipation efforts throughout the country.
Fuchs added that her seniors have opportunities to understand how emancipation set the stage for the District’s present-day conditions. At the end of each semester, some students choose to expound upon that concept in essays that require them to focus on a significant historical event that greatly affected the nation’s capital.
They also draw similar connections in subsequent courses that cover the Civil RIghts era and gentrification.
Fuchs told the Informer that the in-class instruction, which includes documentaries and news articles about ongoing efforts to rebuff gentrification, primes some of her students to speak about improvements they would like to see in D.C, and how racial inequity has hindered progress for a segment of the population.
Earlier this year, Fuchs testified before SBOE about proposed updates to the District’s history standards. Though she didn’t focus on D.C. history, Fuchs pointed out that the standards provided for that discipline greatly benefitted teachers, particularly those tasked with teaching young Black native Washingtonians.
“There are a lot of young, transient teachers who are not well versed in D.C. History so the standards help,” Fuchs said. “While every [historical figure] doesn’t need to be a standard, it’s still my hope that [OSSE] isn’t destroying the work that went into the older documents. There are names and dates specific to people in D.C. I hope it’s updated as a resource for the new standards or at least have the old ones available.”
Upcoming Celebrations and Lingering Questions
People who want to learn more about aspects of the District’s history, including the D.C. Emancipated Compensation Act have been encouraged to watch The Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment (OCTFME)’s “The Road to Representation” series, which includes appearances from a bevy of District political figures, past and present, along with subject-matter experts.
D.C. Emancipation Day festivities this year include a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest and a concert at Freedom Plaza on April 15 that’s immediately followed by a fireworks display. Performances include Dru Hill, Rakim, Black Alley, Alex Vaughn, Sin Miedo, Kyaira Ware, DJ Diyanna Monet, Nation’s Capital Jack & Jill Chapter and gospel artist JJ Hairston.
Secretary of District of Columbia Kimberly A. Bassett is also hosting a luncheon.
These celebrations come amid an ongoing District statehood movement, the 50th anniversary of D.C. Home Rule and a budget season in which the District is anticipated to generate less revenue than in previous years. As has been the case in years past, deliberations among D.C. Council members and District residents have centered on how to ensure Black residents are able to afford to live in what used to be known as “Chocolate City.”
LaToya Foster, director of OCTFME, which organized D.C. Emancipation Days events in conjunction with the Office of the D.C. Mayor, recently reminded D.C. residents to keep statehood at the forefront of their mind as they celebrate D.C. Emancipation Day. She also touted D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s efforts, including in the realm of home ownership, to ensure that Black Washingtonians could stay in an increasingly expensive city.
“The mayor has tried to make sure that African Americans have a fair shot and a path to the middle class. One of the significant points she has done specifically is investments in African Americans being able to purchase a home and [acquire] generational wealth,” Foster said. “It’s something a lot of African-American residents, and residents in general, should take advantage of. Our mayor has put measures in place to make African Americans get that fair shot.”
