Emancipation day is a day celebrated by citizens in Washington DC in the United States. This holiday marks the anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which president Abraham Lincoln signed on April 16, 1862. This event is annually held on April 16. This holiday is about celebrating the abolition of slavery. The DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 ended slavery in Washington, DC, freed 3,100 individuals, recompense those who had legally owned them and offered the newly freed women and men money to emigrate.

From the city’s beginning, various individuals and groups, with often diverse motives, signed anti-slavery petitions, wrote negative newspaper articles, and openly deplored the wide open practice of slavery and slave trading that occurred all over the city. Numerous slaves were of African origin and many slave owners were of Europeans descent. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, it did not officially end slavery in the United States until after the Civil War, which lasted for 4 years. The Thirteenth Amendment is known to have formally ended slavery in the United States. Emancipation day may be the reason to extend the deadline for filing an income tax return ( Tax Day ). Legislation was signed to make Emancipation Day an official public holiday in the District of Columbia on January 4, 2005. And due to this is the reason Emancipation Day is observed in Washington DC today.

Sources
https://emancipation.dc.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Day