Freedom Day in Washington, DC

HAPPY EMANCIPATION DAY! WASHINGTON, DC.

Today, April 16,  is Emancipation Day in Washington, District of Columbia. On this day, 152 years-ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act  with help from Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, which freed all slaves in the District of Columbia. DC's historic Act led to the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 and the ratification in December 1865 of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlawing slavery and servitude in the US. We have come along way on the road to freedom, it has been bumpy at times, it's been violent at times, yet, through the determination, the struggle and cooperation of many, America has arrived at 2014 as a largely integrated society which cherishes racial, gender, sexual and religious equality. Some work is left unfinished, but historical barriers are eroded each day as this Nation deepens its evolution as the World's beacon of hope, freedom, equality and democracy. To gauge how much we have accomplished in the relative short time since Emancipation, look to our Commander-in-Chief, President Barrack Obama. Also our Attorney General, Eric Holder, and this writer share an identical heritage from beautiful Barbados in the Caribbean, to New York City, to Washington DC. There are many more examples, but the emphasis here is that today, is a glorious time, occasion and historical benchmark in Washington, DC. To Freedom always!