Home“Thanks to the Lord, We Are Free, We Are Free.”

“Thanks to the Lord, We Are Free, We Are Free.”

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on April 16, 1862, freed all the slaves in Washington DC, and offered compensation to the slave owners.[2] This bill was pushed through Congress by Republican Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, he was a staunch abolitionists and considered a radical Republican.[3] This act compensated slaveholders for the 2,991 slaves they had legally owned within the District. The act compensated slave owners $300 per slave. However, over 3,000 slaves were freed, some slave owners choose not file the forms for compensation. This act also pushed for colonization, which offered all African Americans in the District $100 if they chose, “to emigrate to the Republics of Hayti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the United States as the President may determine…"[4] there were no known takers of this offer. These joyously freed persons, would soon realize that freedom did not mean equality. Their struggles were just beginning, many were desperate for food, housing, and a paying job to meet these basic needs.[5]

Almost immediately following the Emancipation Act, community celebrations emerged in churches and within the established African American communities. These celebrations were politically charged events, which sought the advancement of African Americans rights and liberties.  The first large scale celebration was a parade held on April 16, 1866, which celebrated the fourth anniversary of the Emancipation Act. This parade was limited to the federal areas of the city, and was reviewed by President Andrew Johnson, most parades during this period were attended by the current president. There were over 15,000 participants from a variety of backgrounds. The parade members were vast including; civic groups, religious leaders, organized labor groups, social and sporting clubs, “queens of love and beauty” (African American debutants), prominent local African American leaders, ordinary citizens of all races, military, and bands. These parades were grand events, which featured floats and wagons bearing all types of banners from the mild to the provocative.[6] “God Bless American – the Home of the Free” to “American Can Never Be Truly Free Until Her Subjects Enjoy the Rights of Suffrage.”[7]  The parades were not without controversy, this usually was in the form of political differences and clashes between conflicting socio-economic groups. This divide between classes was the main reason for the end of the parades in the 19th century, and the nail in the coffin was the ban issued from district officials in 1900.[8] The loss of this annual celebration removed an event where African Americans could come together in mass and lobby for change and to celebrate their heritage. The coalition and movement built in part by Loretta Clark-Hanes in 1991 to rebuild this celebration and day of remembrance was eventually embraced by the citizens and officials in the District.[9] In 2005, Emancipation Day became an official holiday in the District, ensuring that the freedoms granted on April 16th would not be forgotten again.[10]

The newly freed African Americans generally flocked to the Republican Party and viewed Lincoln as their freedom granter. Did Lincoln deserve their admiration for this act? Lincoln’s views on slavery as an institution evolved over time. In 1862, he was more concerned with the Civil War and keeping American united. He was a man in the middle, trying to free slaves in a way, which hurt the Confederacy, but also did not lower support for the Union.[12] He attached a letter to Congress after signing the Act, which appeared to praise compensation and colonization, “I am gratified that the two principles of compensation, and colonization, are both recognized, and practically applied in the Act.”[13] These provisions within the bill helped to appease those in the middle. However, he never publicly supported equal rights for African Americans. At the first official meeting of African American leaders and Lincoln at the White House in 1862, he said:

“You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether that is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence.”[14]

Despite the Lincoln’s inability to align completely with abolitionists, he did evolve overtime to dislike the practice of slavery, and was celebrated by African Americans throughout the United States as their liberator. The African Americans of the United State looked past or were unaware of his motivations and views to embrace Lincoln as their liberator.

Petition of Mildred E. Ewell, 5 May 1862 – this is an example of one of the 966 petitions filed after the Act was passed:

“Evelina Moore is a woman of dark color, genteel in her manner, an intelligent mind, good disposition and a useful servant; she is 25 years of age. A woman of unusual qualities.

Benjamin Moore is a dark man, large and healthy, good appearance & character and has capacity to discharge the most responsible positions as a servant. He is 20 years of age.

Sallie Moore is a girl of light color, an unusually bright & healthy child; she is 6 years of age.”[15]

These petitions described persons like cattle and are reflective of this brutal and dark period of our national history.

In 1862, the District of Columbia was home to approximately 11,000 free African Americans and 3,000 enslaved persons. The District was also home to many fugitive slaves seeking refuge from their owners and the Civil War. These different groups were not harmoniously joined together after Emancipation. The affluent group of free persons, where concerned by the unemployed masses filling the slums of “Nigger Hill and Murder Bay.”[16] The African American population swelled in the District after emancipation, the problems of employment and housing arose quickly. African American Churches and civic groups worked to solve this fast growing problem community problems.[17] Despite challenges, freedom meant greater opportunities for prosperity, gaining a formal education, and it created a better possibility to become an African American leader.[18]

The District and indeed the nation celebrated the Emancipation Act as the first Congressional bill to prohibit slavery in the United States. The 13th Amendment freed the nation and overshadowed the earlier Emancipation Act. This era in the late 1860s was one of jubilation and excitement, the reconstruction era civil rights movement was on track. However, this spirit soon died under the banner separate but equal.

W.E.B. Dubois spoke to this heart wrenching transition:

“The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.”[20]


Endnotes:

[1] (To the Colored Men of the District of Columbia 1865)

[2] Akers (2002)

[3] (Gibbs 2014)

[4] (Wilson 1861)

[5] (Akers 2002)

[6] (Terry 2002)

[7] (Schiffert 2002)

[8] (Schiffert 2002)

[9] (Clark-Lewis 2002)

[10] (Gibbs 2014)

[11] (Schiffert 2002)

[12] (Akers 2002)

[13] (Lincoln 1862)

[14] (Elliff 2012)

[15] (Petition of Mildred E. Ewell 1862)

[16] (Schiffert 2002)

[17] (Terry 2002)

[18] (Clark-Lewis 2002)

[19] (Terry 2002)

[20] (Terry 2002)

Bibliography:

Akers, Regina T. 2002. "Freedom Without Equality: Emancipation in the United States, 1861-1863." In First Freed Washington, D.C., In the Emancipation Era, edited by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, 1-20. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Clark-Lewis, Elizabeth. 2002. First Freed Washington, D.C., In the Emancipation Era. Edited by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Cooke, Paul P. 2002. "From Emancipation to Citizenship: Blacks in Washington, D.C., 1862-1887." In First Freed Washington, D.C., In the Emancipation Era, edited by Elizabeth Lewis-Clark, 98-110. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Daily National Repulican. 1865. "To the Colored Men of the District of Columbia." September 16.

Elliff, John T. 2012. "Abraham Lincoln and D.C. Emancipation: Illinois Legislator, Congressman, President." 39th Annual Conference on D.C. Historical Studies. Washington, DC. 1-9. Accessed March 27, 2014. http://annualconferencedchistoricalstudies.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/elliff-paper-for-dc-history-conference_abraham_lincoln_and_dc_emancipation2.pdf.

Gibbs, C.R. 2014. Emacipation History District of Columbia. Washington, D.C., 05 01. Accessed 05 01, 2014. http://emancipation.dc.gov/node/105922.

Goddard, Richlyn F. 2002. "The African American Press and Emancipation in the District of Columbia." In First Freed Washington, D.C., In the Emancipation Era, edited by Elizabeth Lewis-Clark, 38-70. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Lincoln, Abraham. 1862. Abraham Lincoln to Congress, Wednesday, April 16, 1862 . Washington, D.C., 04 16. Accessed 05 01, 2014. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal1/155/1554100/malpage.db&recNum=0.

1862. Petition of Mildred E. Ewell. 5 5. Accessed 04 20, 2014. http://civilwardc.org/texts/petitions/cww.00024.html.

Schiffert, Craig A. 2002. "An Historical Analysis of the District of Columbia Emancipation Day PArades, 1866-1900." In First Freed Washington, D.C., In the Emancipation Era, edited by Elizabeth Lewis-Clark, 111-136. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Terry, David T. 2002. "The Aftermath of Emancipation in Washington, D.C., 1862-1869." In First Freed Washington, D.C., In the Emancipation Era, edited by Elizabeth Lewis-Clark, 71-97. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Wilson, Henry. 1861. An Act for the Release of certain Persons held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia. Washington, D.C., 12 16. Accessed 05 01, 2014. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/dc_emancipation_act/transcription.html.