(Washington, DC) The US Congress approved legislation on March 2, 2007 to officially designate April 16 as DC Emancipation Day and make it an official public holiday in the District of Columbia.

The DC Department of Human Resources has added DC Emancipation Day on the list of legal public holidays and issued DPM Bulletin No. 12-232, Schedule of Legal Public Holidays for Calendar Year 2007 – Supersession of DPM Bulletin No. 12-217, to reflect the recent approval. The list of official holidays is now as follows:

*The legal public holiday is Sunday, November 11, 2007. By law, when the holiday falls on a Sunday, the holiday is observed on the Monday following the holiday.

On April 16,1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, For the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. The Act freed about 3,100 enslaved persons in DC nine months before President Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation telegraphing the eventual end of slavery to the rest of the nation. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act represents the only example of compensation by the federal government to free enslaved persons.

The Emancipation Day celebration was held yearly from 1866 to 1901, and was resumed as a tradition and historic celebration in 2002. On January 4, 2005, Emancipation Day was made an official public holiday in the District, but until now, it needed to be resubmitted to Congress annually. With passage of the recent legislation, it is now designated a permanent public holiday in the District.