Emancipation Day Festivities Planned

The D.C. government is sponsoring a variety of activities tomorrow to celebrate Emancipation Day -- the anniversary of the date that President Abraham Lincoln freed all slaves in the District. The event is a holiday in the city, and the Department of Motor Vehicles will close all facilities for the day. A wreath-laying ceremony at 10 a.m. at Lincoln Park in Northeast and a parade at 11 a.m. on Pennsylvania Avenue between Fourth and 14th streets NW are scheduled. Musicians, dancers and other artists will perform starting at 2 p.m. at Freedom Plaza, 14th and Pennsylvania, followed by a concert at 5:30 p.m. and fireworks at 8:15 p.m. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, ending slavery in the District nearly nine months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves throughout the country.