The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the National Archives host a panel discussion to observe the 145th anniversary of the District of Columbia’s Compensated Emancipation Act. On April 16, 1862, before slaves were freed elsewhere in the United States, President Abraham Lincoln signed the law freeing 3,100 slaves in Washington, DC.
The panel will explore the lives of free and enslaved African Americans in the nation’s capital, documentation from that period, and the impact the act had on the region and the nation. The panel will feature Lerone Bennett, Jr., executive director emeritus, Ebony; Elizabeth Clark Lewis of Howard University; and Walter Hill, senior archivist in African American history. John W. Franklin of the NMAAHC will moderate. For further information on DC Emancipation Week programs, visit www.os.dc.gov/os/site.
Introductions were provided by J. Calvin Jefferson, Past President, National Archives Afro-American Historical Society.
John Hope Franklin, John 's father, was a surprise guest in the audience.
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