WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine is calling on District residents to observe Emancipation Day this year both by commemorating President Lincoln’s act of freeing the District’s enslaved residents and by continuing to strive for equality and fairness for all District residents.

“This Emancipation Day, let’s honor an important historical moment in which thousands of District residents were freed by renewing our efforts to establish true liberty and justice for all,” Attorney General Racine said. “True freedom means that every child gets a chance at a quality education and doesn’t get sidelined on a track to prison; it means that every resident has access to safe and affordable housing so that he or she can participate in the burgeoning economic life of our city; and it means that all residents get paid for an honest day’s work so that they can provide for their families.  We must remain committed to those ideals.  And a commitment to freedom also requires a renewed pledge to do everything we can to gain full democracy for the 670,000 residents of our city, who continue to be denied a vote in Congress.”

Emancipation Day is a citywide holiday in the District. It commemorates the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act, which was signed into law on April 16, 1862 and freed over 3,000 enslaved persons. The measure was the forerunner of the federal Emancipation Proclamation, which President Lincoln signed on January 1, 1863.

Attorney General Racine will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum on Saturday, April 16, at 3pm. For more information on other Emancipation Day 2016 festivities, visit: http://www.emancipationdc.com/.