Emancipation proclamation which was issued eight months later. On this day 157 years ago an act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District Of Columbia became law. The d. C. Emancipation act and enslavery in washington, d. C. Freeing 3,100 enslaved individuals. For the past year as war raged between the union and the confederacy opponents of slavery had decried the scandal of slavery continuing to exist within the nations capitol. 8 1 2 months later president lincoln sign said the emancipation proclamation which did not free all enslaved persons but sent a powerful signal slavery would no longer be tolerated. The emancipation proclamation has assumed a place among the greatest arguments of human freedom. The story of the emancipation proclamation is one that would help to redefine freedom and eventually change the course of history. Both the proclamation and the d. C. Legislation represent a praups of hope, freedom and justice that continues to inspire and resonate with the American People more than 150 years after its creation. Now its my pleasure to welcome the reverend to the stage. Hes the director of the office of religious affairs and the executive office of the mayor and the interim director of the Mayors Office of africanamerican affairs and the commission on fathers, men and boys. He serves as a liaison for the Faith Community in the District Of Columbia and also provides support to the mayors interfaith counsel. Please welcome the reverend. Well, thank you and good evening, everyone. Its a pleasure on behalf of mayor bowser who perhaps will come back for our book discussion. Youll get that later. For she is the second two term mayor in washington, d. C. In quite some time and the first woman twoterm mayor here in d. C. The emancipation proclamation and the compensated emancipation act of 1862, president lincoln signed that document although he did not author it on april 16th. Because of that we have since 2005 claimed april 16th as a holiday here in washington, d. C. [ applause ] in the proper way as many other holidays, king holiday and others, to celebrate a day like d. C. Emancipation day is not with a day off. Its not with spending our time in commerce but its to come to events like this to study our history, our culture, to know from wens we have come. I must say that im also i consider myself a member of the National Archives family. When the first job i landed was at the National Archives southeast region. Its with all that ive understood about history and i will leave you with these words. That those of us who do not remember our history or our past are condemned to repeat it. And i would just portend to that statement, the best way to value, to appreciate our democracy is with a knowledge of our history. And so today its a special day. So i come just like you have to view those sacred documents and to hear from these esteemed panelists just about the road we have traveled to pause as we continue along the struggle and the journey for total freedom for everyone. Thank you. Thank you, reverend. And now onto our panelists and a special musical tribute. Our moderator this evening is a professor, current chair and former director of graduate and under graduate programs in Howard Universitys department of history. Our panelists are Elizabeth Clark louis, professor at history at howard university, davidson at Bowie State University and historian and author c. R. Gibbs. Yes. Before we start our discussion, we have a special Music Performance by the artist group corral of washington. Oats composed of professional and Community Singers who have have been delighting audiences in this region since 2008 and very recently up stairs in the rotunda. There under the direction of cofounder calvin page who was president of the branch of the National Association of negro musicians in teaching in the performing arts. Now they will perform the song soon i will be done by william dawson. Going home to live with god calling home to live with god i want to meet my mother, i want to meet my mother i want to meet my mother im going to live with god i want to meet my mother, i want to meet my mother im going to live with god calling home to live with god going home to live with god i want to meet my jesus i want to meet my jesus i want to meet my jesus im going to live with god i want to meet my jesus im going to live with god im going to live with god im going to live with god [ applause ] good evening. Thank you so much for coming this evening. Its a very nice evening outside so i know that some of us would rather be out there enjoying that beautiful weather. But youre going to be imprisoned here for about an hour and a half or so. But we know itll be well worth your time. I want to make one slight correction. I am no longer chair of the department of history. Im sure that dr. Nikki taylor who is the chair would want me to let you know that. I am currently the interim dean of the college of arts and sciences at howard. But i will be returning to the department you know. I will be returning to the department in august, and im really looking forward to it. We are here to commemorate two very important documents. The first is the d. C. Compensated emancipation act which was signed by president lincoln on april 16th, 1862. It was actually passed by congress on april 11th and president lincoln signed it on april 16th. And well talk about that little period where there was lingering doubt about whether or not he was going to sign it. Of course the emancipation proclamation was signed by president lincoln on january 1, 1863. So the d. C. Emancipated compensation the d. C. Compensated emancipation act was enacted or passed more than eight months before the emancipation proclamation. And about 3 1 2 years before the 13th amendment. And we will get into a discussion of how each of those different before i start grilling my colleagues i want to indicate just a little bit about each one of those documents. The d. C. Compensated emancipation actually stipulated that all enslaved people in the District Of Columbia would be declared free. Their owners would be compensated for the loss of their property at the rate of no more than 300 per enslaved person lost. We will talk about the fact that some people did get more than that. Owners had to be loyal. They had to declare allegiance to the United States in that they could not have taken up arms in order to get compensated for their loss. It was also a colonization stipulation as well. 100,000 was allocated to enable africanamericans to go voluntarily, it says, out of the country. Either to liberia or to haiti. And thats a part of the measure that we dont talk about a lot. There was a commission established, a commission of three men established who would investigate the claims of that these people were owned that enslaved africans were actually owned by these particular slave holders. There was testimony given by africanamericans which was really unusual for this period especially in the south and d. C. Was the south during this period. And so black people could testify about that. I missed that, but im sure someone will fill me in later. And it declared a felony to reenslave anyone or to transport them outside of the city once the law was passed. And of course the emancipation proclamation issued eight months later stipulated or at least promised the freedom of enslaved africanamericans in those areas in states and in those areas of states still in rebellion. And so it refers specifically to certain of the southern slave Holding States, but the states that were a part of the confederacy. As you know the states that were still in the union the slave Holding States that were still in the union were exempted from the proclamation. One of the most important things beyond the fact that it is freeing 3. 1 Million People it authorizes the incrusement and enlistment of africanamerican men into the union army and navy and that was extremely important to the winning of the war. Let me turn to the panel, and any of you can answer these questions. When i want one of you specifically to answer i will call you out. But for this first question anyone can answer. At the beginning of the civil war d. C. Had a population i believe of about 75,000 people. 14,000 of them consisted of people of color, people of africanamerican descent. Among the latter there were just over 3,000 who were enslaved. So if one of you would briefly describe the characteristics of slavery in the city on the eve of the civil war. I think the thing we probably should keep in mind was that the district was becoming more and more urban and switching economies from rural to urban and we begin to see a change. Now that both characters still prevailed in many parts of the city, im reminded of a slave owner who would be compensated. She was the fourth largest slave owner in the district. Her name was ana marie and she was a shy retiring elderly woman who they say seldom wept out. Her address was rock creek georgetown. She decided to take advantage of the changing nature of the city by hiring out. She had 32 enslaved people, and she had she was able to provide folks who wanted to do the rural stuff and folks who wanted such as cooks and maids to do something a little bit more urban. So she could go either way. And to show you the wisdom of her investment, it is estimated that she made about 900 with a 5 return on her investment. I dont think we can make 5 on anything we have invested today. So just to give you an idea, and when compensated emancipation occurred, this lady who never went out, went out and she decided to get a she decided to get a boardinghouse in georgetown and with her financial wind fall, lived her best life. I think thats probably the best way youd want to put it. So we have a city in the ferment of change, and they were able to ride it out. I just say in closing my colleagues are aware of a raebt article on the 7th of this month in the Washington Post it talked about how quickly elite slave owners were able to recruit their losses within about 20 years or so. And so when we hear people we were talking backstage about a lady whos still mad, september that right, roger . Shes still angry. Her family lost everything, and i dont want to take it away from roger. I was going to say when it came to just to add onto what professor gibbs was saying, you have a situation in the city that urban slavery is just a little different. You have a lot of skilled individuals, you have domestics, you have mechanics. You have people engaged in all sorts of trades. So and their routines are somewhat different. In this city where you have a majority of free blacks intermingling with the enslaved sometimes their lifestyle was a little different. You had situations in which the enslaved attended church with the free blacks and intermingled with the free blacks. And so though they were enslaved there was some feeling of freedom. They could see it, they could walk amongst and they could feel it. So d. C. Was a little different. Baltimore was a little similar in that vein. One way to get a feel how similar they are if you read one of Frederick Douglas biographies he talks about being hired out in baltimore in which he had a room and a stipend he could live on. So these people are living though enslaved on the edge of freedom. They can smell it, they can taste it, they can touch it. Theres a notation somewhere in the census list for 1860 where the census taker listed an enslaved black man as free and then he had to correct himself. And he noted that the black man said we live like freedom. We live like freedom. This is why we appreciate the pencil mark, but he wanted to express the nature of his existence in a changing environment. However, theres a gentleman who talks about this intermingling with enslaved and free people, and there is this back and forth. But i do think that even on the preface of freedom, there is still that distinction in that you are unfree, and that i think the work of either jones in her work looking at the church in georgetown, there were clear stipulations that individuals who were enslaved talked about in one case feeling the strangling effects of enslavement. So although there is that interface i do think there are those stipulations that in the end there are those differences. And even for those persons who are free, with the black codes that are instituted in the district near the middle of the 19th century, it becomes a situation in which freedom becomes a lot more tenuous and a lot more difficult to maneuver about this city particularly in the evenings. So i do think there are as you said theres that incorporation of freedom and enslavement. But in the end nonwhite people are far more vulnerable and i think that becomes a part of what pushes the president in this era as he thinks about and rethinks enslave lt. Dr. Clark louis there had been intense debate for a number of years. Whats happening during this period especially what happens that intensifies that debate during the winter and the spring of 1861, 62 . I think in that period everyone in the city feels the as you said the intense pressure of the war all around them. And it, of course, comes to a head for People Living in the city. But i think as a city that from its inception had been had slavery as a significant part of it, it never really becomes something that they ever can hope to get away from. Other than a dramatic action by the part of lincoln. I dont think that theres a belief that these individuals who owned enslaved people were going to free them. I think it took bold action on the part of the president to take this step. Im not sure if it was always what he wanted to do, but it was a reality of war. And as the war raged all around the city, the idea that these enslaved individuals could create an internal problem or other issues, i think that he tried to balance everything out. It was a horrific situation for him as the leader of the union, but i also think he was very sensitive to the realities of the city. And so trying to balance both as you said created these tensions and in a way i would say is the least bold, he made a decision. It was a decision slow in coming but when he made a decision, he stuck by it. And it was the decision to end enslavement even if was just an experiment. He was going to end it, and it was going to be in a way that allowed the union to make a statement in particular to the europeans. They had to do something. So i think there were a number of realities that pushed him and pulled him toward this decision. So in terms of whats happening in 61, 62 with emancipation in the District Of Columbia, specifically whos push that . It certainly would not have happened if not for the secession of those states and certainly there were men in congress who voted against it this time as well. But who are the people who are actually pushing it . Lincoln does sign it, but who are the folks who are introducing this into congress during this period . I think that any conversation that opens as you did, theres several people we must consider and i happen to be a fan of a man who originally not born under the name he was known as. He was born in New Hampshire in 1812. And he will go onto be the 18th Vice President of the United States. He will also be the senator from massachusetts. And im going to leave that to the audience. Does anyone know who i might be speaking with. Thats right. Thats right. And thank you, by the way. And we understand that it may have been his own upbringing. I mean here is a man whose father offered him according to tradition at least, you know, if you would take my son, im willing to change his name to whatever it might be, whatever yours might be in order to give him an occupation. And yet the fact that henry is not properly recognized, not since his demise. I mean, black people in the city knew him for two things. Being a major force on behalf of abolition and emancipation. Also honored him for being a force behind getting rid of the black code in the district as well. But its important to know there had been a pushover a 30year period. The historian temple talks about an attempt during the administration to strike slavery from all of the law books on the eve of the renewal of the citys charter. And yet the southern powers defeat that at the last moment. So lincoln himself had had an idea in 184 as well. But what we see also are efforts by citizens in the district that there is the founding of the Washington Abolition Society in 1827. And then various attempts, theres also an Abolition Society in alexandria. And prior to retrocession both groups existed in the same same area. So we have people and one of the earliest petitions was signed by all of the judges on the local court. So we saw people that were repulsed by the sight of slave coppers in the district walking across the capitol square. One of the earliest female reporters talks about being surprised at a slave sale at the foot of capitol hill, and she talks about how the its near where the Peace Memorial is. So for you hard core d. C. Historians, that was literally at the foot of capitol hill, she was so discomforted and disoriented she stepped by accident on the very platform where the slave sale was going to occur and her husband had to pull her off of it. So things got a little dicy there. So what we see are legislators, the judges of the court who realize for good or ill we need to take action, this is National Embarrassment as a capitol city and a nation which prides itself on being the land of the free and home of brave. Theres a fundamental contradiction here that has to be dealt with, and i think that pressure going back several decades only accelerates as we get to 1861 and early 1862. The issue of embarrassment is critical because we know that in 1850, with the compromise of 1850 one part dealt specifically with the ending of the buying and the selling of enslaved people in the District Of Columbia. It is an interNational