And you can thank Abraham Lincoln and former Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams for that.
How so, you ask?
Normally, all federal tax returns must be filed by April 15. But Washington D.C. was closed on Friday in honor of Emancipation Day.
Although our nation is far from perfect, this small celebration of freedom makes me proud to be an American because it is a prime example of how much good can be done when lawmakers put money behind social policy they believe in.
But I would almost be willing to bet that few people outside our nation’s capital were aware that Abraham Lincoln freed slaves in Washington D.C. some nine months before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. But what’s most interesting about Emancipation Day for Washington D.C., is that the federal government announced that it would compensate slaveholders in the District for the loss of their human chattel.
On April 16, 1862, Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act that effectively freed about 3,100 slaves in Washington D.C.
Under that legislation, the federal government paid approximately 900 slaveholders $300 per slave to set their bondmen free.
And in my opinion that was one of the shrewdest, most benevolent uses of federal dollars in history because it showed that emancipation was important enough to pay for without alienating slaveholders who had to give up their comfortable—yet overtly racist—way of life.
I pride myself on being an avid student of history—African American History, in particular—but I have to admit that until I started investigating the reason for this year’s tax extension, I didn’t know about D.C.’s Emancipation Day.
I was familiar with the fact that on June 19, 1865 Texas abolished slavery and that celebration is commonly known as Juneteenth.
I even knew that the British West Indies were emancipated through the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which led to slaveholders there being paid to free slaves in the Caribbean.
But as I discovered this exciting African American history fact I also came across a 2009 documentary on the subject called “Enslavement to Emancipation” produced by the Washington D.C. Office of Cable Television.
The one-hour film tells an interesting story of African American history that spans the colonial period to the Civil Rights era.
But what surprised me the most was learning that shortly after the Civil War, Emancipation Day was celebrated with a citywide parade that culminated in a rally with speakers who celebrated the freedom of African Americans but also brought attention to outstanding disparities between the races.
Over time, however, the celebration of Emancipation Day faded. That is, until 2005, when former Mayor Anthony Williams declared April 16, a holiday in the District.
When Emancipation Day falls on a Saturday, it is celebrated on Friday April 15. When it falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated the following Monday April 17.
And because the city was closed for Emancipation Day this year, the tax deadline has been extended.
So as you crunch those last minute numbers remember to thank our 16th president Abraham Lincoln and former D.C. Mayor Williams for their respective roles in Emancipation Day that gives you just a little more time. And remember the Federal government, at least on occasions, puts its money where its mouth is and shows that public good can be accomplished by allocating money to support social policy.
