Transcripts For CSPAN3 District Of Columbia Emancipation Act Of 1862 20240714

Emancipation proclamation which was issued eight months later. On this day 157 years ago an act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District Of Columbia became law. The d. C. Emancipation act and enslavery in washington, d. C. Freeing 3,100 enslaved individuals. For the past year as war raged between the union and the confederacy opponents of slavery had decried the scandal of slavery continuing to exist within the nations capitol. 8 1 2 months later president lincoln sign said the emancipation proclamation which did not free all enslaved persons but sent a powerful signal slavery would no longer be tolerated. The emancipation proclamation has assumed a place among the greatest arguments of human freedom. The story of the emancipation proclamation is one that would help to redefine freedom and eventually change the course of history. Both the proclamation and the d. C. Legislation represent a praups of hope, freedom and justice that continues to inspire and resonate with the American People more than 150 years after its creation. Now its my pleasure to welcome the reverend to the stage. Hes the director of the office of religious affairs and the executive office of the mayor and the interim director of the Mayors Office of africanamerican affairs and the commission on fathers, men and boys. He serves as a liaison for the Faith Community in the District Of Columbia and also provides support to the mayors interfaith counsel. Please welcome the reverend. Well, thank you and good evening, everyone. Its a pleasure on behalf of mayor bowser who perhaps will come back for our book discussion. Youll get that later. For she is the second two term mayor in washington, d. C. In quite some time and the first woman twoterm mayor here in d. C. The emancipation proclamation and the compensated emancipation act of 1862, president lincoln signed that document although he did not author it on april 16th. Because of that we have since 2005 claimed april 16th as a holiday here in washington, d. C. [ applause ] in the proper way as many other holidays, king holiday and others, to celebrate a day like d. C. Emancipation day is not with a day off. Its not with spending our time in commerce but its to come to events like this to study our history, our culture, to know from wens we have come. I must say that im also i consider myself a member of the National Archives family. When the first job i landed was at the National Archives southeast region. Its with all that ive understood about history and i will leave you with these words. That those of us who do not remember our history or our past are condemned to repeat it. And i would just portend to that statement, the best way to value, to appreciate our democracy is with a knowledge of our history. And so today its a special day. So i come just like you have to view those sacred documents and to hear from these esteemed panelists just about the road we have traveled to pause as we continue along the struggle and the journey for total freedom for everyone. Thank you. Thank you, reverend. And now onto our panelists and a special musical tribute. Our moderator this evening is a professor, current chair and former director of graduate and under graduate programs in Howard Universitys department of history. Our panelists are Elizabeth Clark louis, professor at history at howard university, davidson at Bowie State University and historian and author c. R. Gibbs. Yes. Before we start our discussion, we have a special Music Performance by the artist group corral of washington. Oats composed of professional and Community Singers who have have been delighting audiences in this region since 2008 and very recently up stairs in the rotunda. There under the direction of cofounder calvin page who was president of the branch of the National Association of negro musicians in teaching in the performing arts. Now they will perform the song soon i will be done by william dawson. Going home to live with god calling home to live with god i want to meet my mother, i want to meet my mother i want to meet my mother im going to live with god i want to meet my mother, i want to meet my mother im going to live with god calling home to live with god going home to live with god i want to meet my jesus i want to meet my jesus i want to meet my jesus im going to live with god i want to meet my jesus im going to live with god im going to live with god im going to live with god [ applause ] good evening. Thank you so much for coming this evening. Its a very nice evening outside so i know that some of us would rather be out there enjoying that beautiful weather. But youre going to be imprisoned here for about an hour and a half or so. But we know itll be well worth your time. I want to make one slight correction. I am no longer chair of the department of history. Im sure that dr. Nikki taylor who is the chair would want me to let you know that. I am currently the interim dean of the college of arts and sciences at howard. But i will be returning to the department you know. I will be returning to the department in august, and im really looking forward to it. We are here to commemorate two very important documents. The first is the d. C. Compensated emancipation act which was signed by president lincoln on april 16th, 1862. It was actually passed by congress on april 11th and president lincoln signed it on april 16th. And well talk about that little period where there was lingering doubt about whether or not he was going to sign it. Of course the emancipation proclamation was signed by president lincoln on january 1, 1863. So the d. C. Emancipated compensation the d. C. Compensated emancipation act was enacted or passed more than eight months before the emancipation proclamation. And about 3 1 2 years before the 13th amendment. And we will get into a discussion of how each of those different before i start grilling my colleagues i want to indicate just a little bit about each one of those documents. The d. C. Compensated emancipation actually stipulated that all enslaved people in the District Of Columbia would be declared free. Their owners would be compensated for the loss of their property at the rate of no more than 300 per enslaved person lost. We will talk about the fact that some people did get more than that. Owners had to be loyal. They had to declare allegiance to the United States in that they could not have taken up arms in order to get compensated for their loss. It was also a colonization stipulation as well. 100,000 was allocated to enable africanamericans to go voluntarily, it says, out of the country. Either to liberia or to haiti. And thats a part of the measure that we dont talk about a lot. There was a commission established, a commission of three men established who would investigate the claims of that these people were owned that enslaved africans were actually owned by these particular slave holders. There was testimony given by africanamericans which was really unusual for this period especially in the south and d. C. Was the south during this period. And so black people could testify about that. I missed that, but im sure someone will fill me in later. And it declared a felony to reenslave anyone or to transport them outside of the city once the law was passed. And of course the emancipation proclamation issued eight months later stipulated or at least promised the freedom of enslaved africanamericans in those areas in states and in those areas of states still in rebellion. And so it refers specifically to certain of the southern slave Holding States, but the states that were a part of the confederacy. As you know the states that were still in the union the slave Holding States that were still in the union were exempted from the proclamation. One of the most important things beyond the fact that it is freeing 3. 1 Million People it authorizes the incrusement and enlistment of africanamerican men into the union army and navy and that was extremely important to the winning of the war. Let me turn to the panel, and any of you can answer these questions. When i want one of you specifically to answer i will call you out. But for this first question anyone can answer. At the beginning of the civil war d. C. Had a population i believe of about 75,000 people. 14,000 of them consisted of people of color, people of africanamerican descent. Among the latter there were just over 3,000 who were enslaved. So if one of you would briefly describe the characteristics of slavery in the city on the eve of the civil war. I think the thing we probably should keep in mind was that the district was becoming more and more urban and switching economies from rural to urban and we begin to see a change. Now that both characters still prevailed in many parts of the city, im reminded of a slave owner who would be compensated. She was the fourth largest slave owner in the district. Her name was ana marie and she was a shy retiring elderly woman who they say seldom wept out. Her address was rock creek georgetown. She decided to take advantage of the changing nature of the city by hiring out. She had 32 enslaved people, and she had she was able to provide folks who wanted to do the rural stuff and folks who wanted such as cooks and maids to do something a little bit more urban. So she could go either way. And to show you the wisdom of her investment, it is estimated that she made about 900 with a 5 return on her investment. I dont think we can make 5 on anything we have invested today. So just to give you an idea, and when compensated emancipation occurred, this lady who never went out, went out and she decided to get a she decided to get a boardinghouse in georgetown and with her financial wind fall, lived her best life. I think thats probably the best way youd want to put it. So we have a city in the ferment of change, and they were able to ride it out. I just say in closing my colleagues are aware of a raebt article on the 7th of this month in the Washington Post it talked about how quickly elite slave owners were able to recruit their losses within about 20 years or so. And so when we hear people we were talking backstage about a lady whos still mad, september that right, roger . Shes still angry. Her family lost everything, and i dont want to take it away from roger. I was going to say when it came to just to add onto what professor gibbs was saying, you have a situation in the city that urban slavery is just a little different. You have a lot of skilled individuals, you have domestics, you have mechanics. You have people engaged in all sorts of trades. So and their routines are somewhat different. In this city where you have a majority of free blacks intermingling with the enslaved sometimes their lifestyle was a little different. You had situations in which the enslaved attended church with the free blacks and intermingled with the free blacks. And so though they were enslaved there was some feeling of freedom. They could see it, they could walk amongst and they could feel it. So d. C. Was a little different. Baltimore was a little similar in that vein. One way to get a feel how similar they are if you read one of Frederick Douglas biographies he talks about being hired out in baltimore in which he had a room and a stipend he could live on. So these people are living though enslaved on the edge of freedom. They can smell it, they can taste it, they can touch it. Theres a notation somewhere in the census list for 1860 where the census taker listed an enslaved black man as free and then he had to correct himself. And he noted that the black man said we live like freedom. We live like freedom. This is why we appreciate the pencil mark, but he wanted to express the nature of his existence in a changing environment. However, theres a gentleman who talks about this intermingling with enslaved and free people, and there is this back and forth. But i do think that even on the preface of freedom, there is still that distinction in that you are unfree, and that i think the work of either jones in her work looking at the church in georgetown, there were clear stipulations that individuals who were enslaved talked about in one case feeling the strangling effects of enslavement. So although there is that interface i do think there are those stipulations that in the end there are those differences. And even for those persons who are free, with the black codes that are instituted in the district near the middle of the 19th century, it becomes a situation in which freedom becomes a lot more tenuous and a lot more difficult to maneuver about this city particularly in the evenings. So i do think there are as you said theres that incorporation of freedom and enslavement. But in the end nonwhite people are far more vulnerable and i think that becomes a part of what pushes the president in this era as he thinks about and rethinks enslave lt. Dr. Clark louis there had been intense debate for a number of years. Whats happening during this period especially what happens that intensifies that debate during the winter and the spring of 1861, 62 . I think in that period everyone in the city feels the as you said the intense pressure of the war all around them. And it, of course, comes to a head for People Living in the city. But i think as a city that from its inception had been had slavery as a significant part of it, it never really becomes something that they ever can hope to get away from. Other than a dramatic action by the part of lincoln. I dont think that theres a belief that these individuals who owned enslaved people were going to free them. I think it took bold action on the part of the president to take this step. Im not sure if it was always what he wanted to do, but it was a reality of war. And as the war raged all around the city, the idea that these enslaved individuals could create an internal problem or other issues, i think that he tried to balance everything out. It was a horrific situation for him as the leader of the union, but i also think he was very sensitive to the realities of the city. And so trying to balance both as you said created these tensions and in a way i would say is the least bold, he made a decision. It was a decision slow in coming but when he made a decision, he stuck by it. And it was the decision to end enslavement even if was just an experiment. He was going to end it, and it was going to be in a way that allowed the union to make a statement in particular to the europeans. They had to do something. So i think there were a number of realities that pushed him and pulled him toward this decision. So in terms of whats happening in 61, 62 with emancipation in the District Of Columbia, specifically whos push that . It certainly would not have happened if not for the secession of those states and certainly there were men in congress who voted against it this time as well. But who are the people who are actually pushing it . Lincoln does sign it, but who are the folks who are introducing this into congress during this period . I think that any conversation that opens as you did, theres several people we must consider and i happen to be a fan of a man who originally not born under the name he was known as. He was born in New Hampshire in 1812. And he will go onto be the 18th Vice President of the United States. He will also be the senator from massachusetts. And im going to leave that to the audience. Does anyone know who i might be speaking with. Thats right. Thats right. And thank you, by the way. And we understand that it may have been his own upbringing. I mean here is a man whose father offered him according to tradition at least, you know, if you would take my son, im willing to change his name to whatever it might be, whatever yours might be in order to give him an occupation. And yet the fact that henry is not properly recognized, not since his demise. I mean, black people in the city knew him for two things. Being a major force on behalf of abolition and emancipation. Also honored him for being a force behind getting rid of the black code in the district as well. But its important to know there had been a pushover a 30year period. The historian temple talks about an attempt during the administration to strike slavery from all of the law books on the eve of the renewal of the citys charter. And yet the southern powers defeat that at the last moment. So lincoln himself had had an idea in 184 as well. But what we see also are efforts by citizens in the district that there is the founding of the Washington Abolition Society in 1827. And then various attempts, theres also an Abolition Society in alexandria. And prior to retrocession both groups existed in the same same area. So we have people and one of the earliest petitions was signed by all of the judges on the local court. So we saw people that were repulsed by the sight of slave coppers in the district walking across the capitol square. One of the earliest female reporters talks about being surprised at a slave sale at the foot of capitol hill, and she talks about how the its near where the Peace Memorial is. So for you hard core d. C. Historians, that was literally at the foot of capitol hill, she was so discomforted and disoriented she stepped by accident on the very platform where the slave sale was going to occur and her husband had to pull her off of it. So things got a little dicy there. So what we see are legislators, the judges of the court who realize for good or ill we need to take action, this is National Embarrassment as a capitol city and a nation which prides itself on being the land of the free and home of brave. Theres a fundamental contradiction here that has to be dealt with, and i think that pressure going back several decades only accelerates as we get to 1861 and early 1862. The issue of embarrassment is critical because we know that in 1850, with the compromise of 1850 one part dealt specifically with the ending of the buying and the selling of enslaved people in the District Of Columbia. It is an interNational Embarrassment that several times at least twice a week you have as you said on the national mall, the buying and selling of human beings. And all the drama that surrounds it. So in 1850 they make the decision as one of the compromises to end the buying and selling. The growth of enslaved the sale of enslaved people would then shift to alexandria and those areas contig ws uous to t District Of Columbia. With the focus on the capitol and people who come here in particular it gets a lot of exposure and it is an embarrassment. But i think you have to consider not just those individuals like sumner and others, but theres lots of individual working against the instulation because of as i said the political impact which is so negative. And the International Articles that are constantly being written about this institution and its flourishing and its existence in the nations capitol. Lets talk a bit about that time span between april 11th when Congress Passed the bill and april 16th when lincoln signed it. There are suggestions that lincoln delayed signing in order to give a friend of his the opportunity to remove two of his enslaved laborers from the city. On the with the suggestion perhaps that they were too old to take care of themselves. And so can either of you tell us about what the conditions were once freedom arrived . Was there any kinds of institutions in the city that sort of made certain this transition from slavery to freedom was smoother, or was there some truth in the idea that people who were older would just be left out on the street to fend for themselves . What was in place that made it possible for people to survive . At that point really theres nothing but charitable organizations. And so you have people like elizabeth keckly, you have visitors coming from virginia, jacobs, who are trying to do what they can to put together organizations. You have camps beginning to setup here to help the formerly enslaved. But theres a big problem. Because as the war goes on and you have the break down of slavery or the progress of emancipation, so you have the consfisication acts which starts in virginia where Benjamin Butler confisicates three men or actually they push the issue by running into federal lines. And the official policy is to return the enslaved so that the south will know that lincoln wants to reunify the country. But the people in the fields realize the best way to attack slave holders, to take their property. The british realize that in 1812 and it ended the revolution. But anyway you have a situation now where these three men are telling the commander here, ben butler, theyre being used to augment the Confederate Forces. Theyre bringing food. Theyre bringing supplies, theyre nursing the sick, theyre building fortification. As a lawyer he decides ill confiscate this contraband of war, and in july if a slave could state they were being used to the benefit of the enemy, for the benefit of the enemy for the Confederate Forces they would be escaped as contraband. Well, people are running into d. C. And, you know, wanting to be confiscated even if theyre from maryland. Theyre making their way across the bridges, theyre coming in and you have these contraband camps. So at this point as emancipation takes place in d. C. , theres nowhere really to absorb the formerly enslaved, and thats becoming a problem. You know, the court master corp offers jobs, but the camps they throw up, the government isnt doing much to help. So you have squalor, you have disease, other issues. Absolutely. And so we know that enslaved people are freed in the District Of Columbia. But whats happening with you talked about hiring out. Whats happening with those enslaved people who had been hired out to maryland but their owners lived in d. C. Or peoples whose owners were in maryland but were hired out to people in d. C. . Whats happening with them . Are they freed as well . No, technically the marylanders are not because the owners are in maryland. But there were a lot of slave holders even those in washington who were trying to resist the emancipation not the emancipation proclamation but compensated emancipation in d. C. So they would remove slaves from d. C. Others were taken to other areas of maryland because maryland since it was a loyal border state, slavery would be protected. You have 3,100 people approximately being freed as a consequence of compensated emancipation. Its a small fraction of the people who are enslaved in the south. Does d. C. Emancipation really have a major impact on the Emancipation Movement considering there are so few people who are freed . I think its a forced multiplier. I think the symbolic importance of d. C. Emancipation cannot be underestimated. It effectively puts the nation on a freedom road where we begin with april 16, 1862. Then the success of d. C. Emancipation emancipation emboldens lincoln so gnat in june 1862 he signs legislation ending enslavement in the western territories. Then in september 1862 we have the preliminary emancipation proclamation which is something even bigger is coming. Get ready for it. And then we have the emancipation proclamation. Even though texas is lested those texans are not going to give up more than a quarter million enslaved people. They have to be forced to do it. And slavery itself is not yet dead. It is still moving, its arms are quivering. We have to have a 13th amendment. Oftentimes people ask didnt that other stuff do it and the answer is most certifiably, no. Its insufficient. Something else must be done. But the fact that the nation is put on this road begins here, 157 years ago today. And of course the 13th amendment does not truly get rid of slavery in the United States. There are pockets of slavery that still exist. Pockets of slavery still remain. I know in a lecture i do on and there are those slave masters who simply dont tell the black folk that work for them that they are freed. Theyre not going to bother with that last little detail. Theyre just going to keep it going. And that ranges from we now believe that members of jessie james family kept enslaved people well after emancipation. In a lecture i do, a man shows up in texas in the early 1900s wanting to know if we are free. So, you know, unfortunately the way its taught in the schools, Abraham Lincoln is like the tooth fairy, he comes along with a star on a stick and touches people and they change their minds overnight. That is not the way it works. Harriet tubman said in the wider society, she was speaking about the fact that just like freedom emancipation was declared but there was no one there to welcome the emancipated. She talked about the fact that d. C. And she was saying in general, but specifically her freedom d. C. Emancipation, this whole issue of emancipation, it was like a stranger in a strange land. But theres constantly this ebb and flow about freedom. And it can be contested, it can be legislated. But frequently on the local level, thats where really the issue has to come to head. The situation in virginia in which people as you said are running to the union line and saying i want to be a part please confiscate me. Please, i want to be a part of whatever helps the demise of enslavement, those individuals through family members, through talk, through whatever means, they get the word is continually spreading. But as you said very well, its an issue that is not easily resolved either socially or even with politic. It still takes time for these issues to be resolved. Now we know that d. C. Emancipation checks some of actually most of the boxes that lincoln wanted in place in terms of an order for emancipation to actually occur. Nationally we know that it was compensated. We know that colonization was a stipulation as well and a possibility there. What lincoln had hoped for, though, was gradual emancipation, and that didnt happen. And he had hoped that there would be consent of the owners, and that didnt happen. We know that d. C. Residents who are slave owners in general did not approve of what was happening. What similarities do you see between compensated emancipation in d. C. And the emancipation proclamation, if any . Or what were the differences other than that . You had a great deal of public resentment almost either way. There were people who refused to see that there was change coming, that that perhaps mirrored the nature of the response from the compensated emancipation act d. C. Emancipation and the emancipation proclamation. They had to be convinced. They had to be forced to let this happen to them. We must realize that these forces once set in motion did oftentimes meet with, if you will, speed bumps or brick walls. And the nation would have to be dragged into a new racial geometry. And we find this in response to d. C. Emancipation when people as rogers told the story of one man who moves his his enslaved labor force to the maryland side of his plantation. Anything he can do to hold off o that dreaded date and to fend off the freedom he so dreads in coming. On a larger role we see as a result of the emancipation proclamation tremendous resistance by the slave owners because they dont want to see their movable property actually move. It will be ultimately up to black people to make these documents real to give them a sense of tissue and blood and muscle. And i dont think even today we fully understand how strong the desire for freedom was and the risks that people were willing to take. Im recalling right now an account given by a soldier who would ultimately join the usct, and this is in the Southern States, he has to evade bloodhounds and crocodiles in order to get to the union lines. And he observers that the bloodhounds the crocodiles were seeming to prefer the meat of the bloodhounds rather than human meat. Just think about it for a second, and if our children knew of the risks that were taken in order to be free. I was telling an audience earlier today about an event that we all know that congressman seth gates witnessed, actually witnessed. He told Frederick Douglas about it. Its in douglas second autobiography about a young lady he saw break loose from a slave pen just down the street, and shes running toward the long bridge, which is approximately where the 14th street bridge is today. She is probably disheveled, she is desperate. And in her desperation we dont know how she got out of the slave pen, but she did. And with the strength that desperation gives she makes to the bridge, but by this time there are slave owners pursuing her from the d. C. Side. And down along the span of the bridge she can see men with angry faces coming toward her. They are yelling catch her, seize her, and so she looks and she chooses to go over the side of the bridge. She chose the cold, gray waters of the potomac rather than live one more millisecond as an enslaved person. I think that we take a moment like that, she wasnt around to make a lofty speech about give me liberty or give me death. She didnt have time to do that. But she showed with her acs that she was willing to make the ultimate acfice if she could not have her freedom, and thats a powerful lesson. I also think that theres a social fabric we have to remember. This nation had this social fabric and enslavement was woven into it. You cant get around it, whether it is the people involved in the commerce in the north or the actual owners reaping the benefit of the individuals labor. Enslavement was worked into and a central part of the social fabric of this country. And to end it, whether you see it as you said from a very dynamic way or individualsrecei way are as individuals who see it in a very static way, it is ending, we are going to force this nation to lose everything it stood for. It makes it almost impossible for people on other side to really understand, as you said, how allencompassing this issue is and why it is changed and why the shift, this paradigm shift that changes everything is so critical to the history of this country. Everything changes with this era, and you cannot take it away , it has to be a heavy burden but i also think there were so many people and particularly the africanamericans advising him that continue to push and insist by writing the time they had to speak with them, they made it clear to him that very clear that this was a change. Africanamericans in the district, playing in terms of influencing lincoln to move forward with the emancipation proclamation. We know that people like Frederick Douglass are certainly doing that but what about local people, what is it about the city and black people in this city that mightve convinced lincoln that they needed to move forward in this. Or was it a gesture and military expediency. David terrys article was the rise of the parable in the District Of Columbia. The fact you have so many schools here. They talk about the activism of the churches and i think the work chronicled how expensive the church network, the limited number of schools and the Church Leadership and the Church Congregations paramount with people like this to 15 p presbyterian, 19 street baptist which is literally at the door of lincoln and individuals, writing doing everything they can to encourage the president but in the end it was lincoln but i think in the end it becomes a moral decision and he makes a decision in favor of emancipation, pushed by all of these other factors and i think the moral issue is critical to him as an individual and as a person. I have to agree with that because, i know there was a military expediency and it served a purpose of diplomacy during a time of war. But, with lincoln, to some aspect, in the 1840s when he was a congressman, he was pushing the idea of compensated emancipation. When war broke out with the preliminary emancipation proclamation was pushing the idea of the emancipation proclamation, primarily so slaveholders would buy back into it. So, with the two documents, the one with dc would be sort of a test and somewhat easy to do because congress can control dc , it could mandate, this is going to happen, whether you like it or not. He cant lose the border states, so he tries to convince them to buy into the compensated emancipation, but they wont. Marilyn wont emancipate until 1864 when they write a new constitution and this is after the emancipation proclamation. Because the emancipation proclamation protected slavery in the loyal regions and in fact, when midnight , on january 1, people were supposedly free and stay still in rebellion and no one really gained their freedom. As my colleague stated, people have to take their freedom and get up and move towards the line. This is an erosion of slavery, this erodes the slaver even more. I think lincoln had to make a moral decision and live with that. He was a man of his times, and yes, he would be considered a bigot by some in the 21st century, he stated this is a white mans country and he did push colonization. But, at the end of the day he thought slavery was immoral and so much so that he acted upon it. And one last thing, in dc, with the people here, with the maryland and virginia bordering washington, he couldnt help but see the people screaming and fighting their way towards freedom, then reading the reports of his commanders in the field he knew what was going on, that they would risk at death just to get to where they could find refuge and where they could claim some freedom if any at all and one report, from maryland, samuel cox road into the excelsior brigade, these guys from new york are no angels and when they saw the enslaved for the first time, some of them were truly shocked and some of them wanted age just like if you saw someone coming to for refuge. They threatened to call it, they caught up with one of the slaves in the camp and to prove a point, when the officers made them give up the enslaved individual, they dragged him behind his horse to his death. That is just to let people know of this is my property, but you just made a few more anti slavery adherence by doing that lincoln had to peer we know that the dc emancipation occurs in other areas during the war. To what extent does it serve as a model, in terms of the post emancipation era . One of the differences where the similarities between what happened in dc after emancipation and what happens in the former confederacy . Youre gonna have people, like iron filings around a magnet, theyre going to come in to the countryside and theyre going to go to union post. Theyre going to go to places where they feel some measure of safety, they are going to take havens of refuge under the union gun. Im often thinking about a little place, insignificant up in the palisades and if any of you know the area around policies and you driven around the George Washington parkway, you know the river in the high cliffs dominate that drive and so you wonder how these folks coming in from Montgomery County even after that in post emancipation, they are coming and they are going to build a community and what is now the edge of the palisades but, they have to get there, they are willing to surmount the formidable physical objects to come in from Montgomery County, to come into and other under the guns of battery kimball. That same road is still there today if you turn on Cambridge Road. There is a cemetery there and its one of the few reminders in an upscale neighborhood that black people lived there in some amount. Then, if you go a few more yards up the colonial era road, there is a Cambridge Road colored schools which is a reminder that there was a significant number of freedom seekers that came from hardship in maryland and came into the district and settled there and willing to establish their own communities in peace and safety if people would leave them alone. And, contribute to the country at large, that is all these men and women and children never saw it was to take part in the full banquet of american rights and liberties. I have to say, the answer to your question when you ask what happened, one of the articles talks about it is a brief moment in the sun, that you have individuals in the District Of Columbia who, through their own tenacity, pulled together, literally, grassroots political parties, they become activists, they really work very hard to economically, socially and politically, move the city forward in very progressive ways. In education for example, the move all the stipulations away because there is access to education for every individual. But, you asked what happened and there was a brief period of progress that with the return of the Southern States in congress, there is a clear and heavyhanded that begins to move over the District Of Columbia and of many of these progressive experiences are slowly but surely scaled back so that you begin to have the, even if its not segregation by law, it is understood by custom. You have limited access to economic and social activity and political power is cut off that slowmoving scale you are talking about comes to a head in the 20th century when president wilson, absolutely reinstitute segregation in all the federal agencies, it was always believed that these federal areas were somehow the islands against segregation in washington which is in the south. It was the advent of president wilson after 1912 that changes. You begin to see, just as you said in the District Of Columbia, there was a brief time for progress, but, those exterior forces that were focused on recreating if not enslavement, at least the world in which segregation dominates. They become the powers that be in the nations capital. I do think that there is a pendulum that, for a short time there is progress and that very soon the pendulum swings back and individuals in the city experience it. But, in spite of that, im thinking in terms of emancipation that, no matter what, they continue to celebrate emancipation even when the scholar said it ended in 1900. When i was doing my own research i was interviewing an older person, my great aunt and i was explaining about emancipation programs in the 30s and i was gently correcting her because emancipation ended and as a person of her age i figured she was mixed up and she politely told me, i dont care what those books say, emancipation did and and she went on to talk about the daughters of isis, the masons, the elks, all of the different organizations and helped me understand that i had to go back to local records, to places like the nanny Helen Burrell school that have flyers an individual material that shows they were celebrating emancipation in the 1950s and even though there is almost an invisible celebration that continues in the African American community, even if its ignored in the wider community, emancipation still resonates with individuals in the District Of Columbia in spite of the external forces. [ applause ] okay we are going to open the discussion up for questions from the audience. I do have one last question for you. Large numbers of people coming into the district were not born there and who have not labored their and who have not lived there before the war. They are mixing with the group, a large group of free black people, people before the war who had become quite prominent in their own communities, what kind of mix was there, what was the dynamic between the new group and the group that had been there already . What was the relationship . I guess it would be similar to the things that happened in the great migration the way you had people moving in and coming from all areas and migrating into basis and into urban areas, so you have the established individuals and the difference between a middle class and a workingclass, to some extent. So, they saw some of the newcomers as loud and sometimes uncool but, nonetheless they Work Together when they had to to move things forward. You see some of that and i grew up in a neighborhood called Shepherd Park alexander r sheppard brought in a lot of people and provided jobs for them and they were somewhat menial jobs but then you had veterans who are coming in who were getting glock jobs as clerks and whatnot in congress. And then you had other activists like george w hatton and these individuals are making the best of it but not everyone gets along but they make it happen. There are tensions that we see as watchers pointed out, this is sometimes reflected in the emancipation parade where they ultimately have two parades because folks are not getting along and this leads to the end of the parades but not, let me make this clear, not the end of the emancipation celebration and that is important and, as professor clark lewis pointed out, there are black organizations that take it over and are responsible for the celebrations and then off to another group and thats responsible and they are doing this in the face of an increasingly hostile congress. Understand that one of the basic reasons that he lost the vote is because there were southerners in the senate who were repulsed by seeing black men and white men standing in line to vote and they never forgot this. There was one southern senator who had been a confederate general and a member of the clan , not surprisingly he was not in favor of this but in the halls of the senate, he compared this to burning down the barn and that was his out what his fellow citizens that is you want to burn down the barn, to say kill the vote for everybody, in order to cripple black political growth and he said yes, i want to burn down the barn and the barn is the franchise, this represents a portion of the obstacles we had to face during these times, as we are moving, supposedly into the 20th century went way too much of the most negative aspects still hung like a shroud over the District Of Columbia. First question. Frederick douglass in 1888 had a speech about emancipation and he denounced emancipation as a stupendous fraud. Followed by a prison industrial complex, emancipation created a situation of not a slave and not a citizen, middle position that could be exploited and so my question to you is, what is the value of freedom without citizenship. But they say history is not everything but its a starting point, history is a cloth that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. Emancipation is not the answer and thats clear. However, its a significant part of people moving forward and theyre not moving forward easily, theyre not moving forward without resistance. But, there is still Forward Movement and, as professor clark has said, its a compass and its a clock and it may not always move the way people think it should that there is movement. [ applause ] of course we know that from the period from emancipation right down to 1875, people are pushing to make sure that the Citizenship Rights that were not granted with emancipation now will be a part of the lives of africanamerican with the 14th and the 15th amendment in the act of 1875, but of course that is overturned by 1883 and that is when things start going downhill. Good evening folks, first off id like to acknowledge one of Harriet Tubmans descendents chemist tina white was in the audience, i appreciate her being here [ applause ] now to my point, Abraham Lincoln was racist to the core, he said there were two races, one white and one black and the whites just happen to be superior. If you have any questions about that you can read the book by the author used to be in ebony magazine writer who wrote an excellent book on him. Remember, Abraham Lincoln refused to allow black folks in the union army. Could you get to the question . Okay, my question is, when tubman and lincoln couldnt pressure to allow black folks into the civil war and courageous fighting that gave rise to then, Abraham Lincoln decided what you gonna do and read relationship to eating the black men as far as legislation . Im confused. Im not clear. Let me clear it up for you then. The south and the north were winning sometimes on the other side was winning sometimes it was even evens but then tubman and frederick put pressure to allow black folks like Harriet Tubman becoming the first by a nurse in the union services, the courageous fighting of the black men with weapons in their hand, killing white folk and like was said earlier, the black men then coming back ec africanamerican soldiers from the civil war, they were becoming a problem. So the question is what . The question is what about this the black soldiers fighting that gave rise to Abraham Lincoln to decide he would pass legislation to give them what to do. Well, if youre talking about compensated emancipation that was prior to blacks being listed formally into the United States army. Even though africanamericans have been serving in the navy from the outset and even before the war and 19,000, but, i didnt get a good clear sense about the what is fars afterwards. After the war a lot of these veterans would come home and be involved in community formation. So, in maryland, in the rural areas, you have them coming home and creating small areas and building schools and forming towns and part of the militia movement, black militias in Southern States and in dc they were part of the Early Civil Rights Movement so they are quite active and even before lincoln you have African Americans, free black drilling in various cities and petitioning congress and the president to be able to serve and, actually lincoln writes a letter to a friend in august 1863 in which he talks about the fact that he is framed lack people to help win the war and what he says to his friends is, when them war is over there will be black man who can hold their heads high because they help to preserve the union and there will be some white men who will lower their heads in memory, but they did all they could to hinder. So, he certainly recognize the significance of the black soldier. Yes, good evening. My question revolves around the freed men. We mentioned 3000 slaves that were emancipated but this is a phase phase of 74,000 friedman in maryland, 54,000 friedman in virginia, which at that time i think included parts of washington d. C. And the district rotates another 11,000 friedman in 1850. So, i guess the concept of freedom is that these friedman had homes of these friedman had businesses and these had built churches and were prosperous in business that they had Carriage Companies and had black and masons and they had a life outside of of the dialogue that always goes on around emancipation. We get this image of this raggedy field person that is always running. So, the point that im making is, these neighborhoods, you are talking georgetown a black neighborhood, logan circle was a black neighborhood, these friedman built hospitals and churches and its not the image we continue to push and then there is a friedmans bill act which no one ever talks about in history which was really one the first forms of reparation. Now, can we ever deal with that because the records are in the building and they would probably fill up the stage iii times over the they are probably the most complete record of American History in the country. Could we have your question please . The friedmans bill act, what you think about that and what you think about general grant is another guy we never talk about he set up the Justice Department to enforce our freedoms, and he enforced it . I would like to say that with regard to some of this, that stuff is out there but there is tons of material written about it its been researched and it may not seem as popular but you could say go into an amazon surgeon you could find some of the stuff there. There is literature on the freedmens bureau, three of mess up your loosely associated with the school founded by otis howard. I dont want to belabor it, and when we talk about dc, we did talk about a Free Black Community and they had that throughout the south especially the upper south, no matter where you are, youre going to find these freed black people. I apologize if it seems as though we were talking about raggedy individuals running to freedom, we had churches here, fifteenth street presbyterian, these places are historical landmarks. So, maybe we should highlight it more or shed more light on it but, there are book on dc during the antebellum period that discuss this and one of the greatest advances the parable were black people were putting together an escape plan to put them away. The stuff is out there, it may not be as prominent. I think in terms of grant theres a lot out there, there are volumes and volumes about general grant and there will be more soon because were about to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth, there is a commission that we will do all kinds of activities all over the country because im on that commission. So you will be hearing a lot more about general grant, there are some president s that dont get a lot of attention and he certainly should get more but he should get more not just because of what he did do but some of the things he didnt do , so theres a lot of stuff out there that people need to learn. Id like to add that in spite of the the images and like my ancestors mentioned 33 children, they instill the desire for freedom in these children and that doesnt waxed and waned and, my colleague here who went to hampton, they had an emancipation tree how this period had pacific programs that address the issues of enslavement and freedom and responsibility, no matter what group you are in this whole Movement Towards emancipation, doesnt necessarily take on a class issue, its something thats important to all African Americans, it meant freedom for individuals, no matter where at a college, in a community, whether its a civic organization, emancipation is significant for people at all levels that no matter what and where and what their status. I think that has to be added. On the evening before dc emancipation, Daniel Alexander came and made a speech in the church at 2620 60 street in georgetown , so that was discussed and was reflected on and there was unity and it was never gonna be easy or perfect but whatever we had immediately after emancipation, in my humble judgment be the heck out of slavery. So i feel that as we trace this from slavery to freedom to the use of our rights, this is an unfinished road. We are not done. Five so this is not finished this is not finished and in dc where we continue to press for the vote, or whether we are in other parts of the country where it seems that the vote is being taken from us, this is an unfinished journey, true freedom is an undiscovered country thank you for the fascinating discussion, ive always been a civil war buff, i grew up with ken burns and glory and the more i read about it the more i want to learn more and when it comes to Abraham Lincoln, and again, ken burns on the subject was honest and active and the same person said that i would preserve the union by freeing all the slaves , some of the slaves, none of the slaves, so are we perhaps discounting the fact from the Republican Party in congress and congress does have democrats it does have slaveowners in congress. So, as a political cover for the emancipation starting with the dc emancipation, could it have been the political cover, that this was revenge against the south . In other words theyre going to pay for breaking up the union and isnt that what the abolitionists said from the beginning that the slave, the price of the union will be back are you saying that im saying perhaps that lincoln himself knew about the political cover. I think weve got it. Bjxtheres a triumph of powe in europe england, france, germany, is it unified until 1871 that this external pressure on lincoln and the internal issue of how the reserve the union. I know that one leaders in london wrote that this union lincolnshire that the south go on the south would be choked off by international pressure. He refused to do that. I think the external pressure, internal problems and the issue of how to create a union in spite of this institution is what we have to understand and try to understand. We have the records and oral testimony, but its a period that is complex on every little level. Thats what makes it fascinating. I dont think there are any answers and its not sent the a domestic issue but the International Pressures are very real and we have to figure out how to do it in a way in which he doesnt destroy his precious union. I dont think anyone could read the second inaugural address and say that lincoln is trying to punish the south. Theres no way that is happening, take another look at that. Yes. Thank you from the panel. Maam, you talked about is deeply is emancipated and africanamericans are making the way to the district, what can you say about the can pendulum ship in the city and how what i impact the celebration of the holiday back its one of the issues were confronting today, we are worried about the continual drain and the difficulty of getting information into the schools in a gentrifying environment and we are still working on that thats the only way i know how to say it, we are aware of it and we are dissatisfied with the status well and there are few who work being valiant need to talk about the history and tunes buyer our young folks. It seems like right now because they are unfamiliar with it and because its not really taught in schools they dont want to approach it thinking they are only going to get tale of woe and sadness, when in fact there are marvelous episodes of resistance and inspiring courage shown. We will continue to tell that story and hope it will catch on. It still worthy of being 47th and africanamerican and according to washington there are small numbers of African Americans moving into the district so they at least see Something Worthy and salvageable in coming here and perhaps for the future of the black community it may very well lie in increasing the numbers of young people several of whom i know personally that decided to make the district their home. I think that part of that reeked naming of history, you have to look at people like Paul Phillips cook, who had as a leader in college becomes Dc Teachers College and federal city college and the universe the District Of Columbia. Theres a long legacy of teachers through the 1960s. It was required that they did one important segment of history on emancipation that begins to change when you have teachers who are coming in from other areas who dont have the same sensitivity. I think the issue of gentrification and movement was not new. If you look at the west end and other communities, there is a constant pendulum and constant shift because if theres nothing more in the District Of Columbia the land is finite and people come here for employment, whether it was in the 1800s and 1900s or 2000 this draw is continuous and they talk about the District Of Columbia and the impact and the importance of land and land ownership, but it was not necessarily just an issue that would be resolved quickly. Its been an ongoing issue that you have people writing in the 1930s and 1940s about this placement on capitol hill and the persons displacement in southwest, its an ongoing issue. I know you talk about in several of your articles, the palisades and the issues near the american university. This is an ongoing issue. Its not new it takes on a different form with regard to the continuation of the emancipation celebration, it has to go beyond the black community and you cant see this is just a black holiday or black celebration, this is a celebration of our city and as celebration of American Progress so, you have now this thing about make America Great again lets go back to the constitution and talk about making this a more Perfect Union. What happened here in 1862 makes us a more Perfect Union it has go beyond the city and beyond black communities to be celebrated nationwide. Im so sorry we are out of time, so were not going to be able to take any additional questions im really sorry. Thank you for coming. Thank you for your wonderful questions [ applause ] and i would like to thank a marvelous panel. Could we thank our marvelous model later moderator. Have a good evening. [ applause ] all we we are featuring American History tv programs is a review of what is available every weekend and he spent 30 lectures in history, american artifact. Real america of the civil war, World History of the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3 in the wake of the recent shootings in el paso tech dayton ohio of the House Judiciary Committee will return early from the summer recess to markup three gun violence prevention bills which include banning highcapacity ammunition magazines restricting firearms from those deemed by a court to be a risk to themselves and preventing individual evicted of misdemeanor hate crimes from purchasing a gun live coverage begins wednesday, september 4 at 10 am eastern on cspan and cspan. Org. If youre on the go, listen to live coverage using the free c span radio app. The house will be in order for 40 years cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of america, the white house, the Supreme Court in Public Policy events from washington d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind created by cable in 1979 cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider cspan is your unfiltered view of government. The university of maryland history professor george metro has talked about race in the District Of Columbia during the early republican antebellum period