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Emancipation Day, also known as Eighth of August, celebrates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Council member Wanda Smith, who sponsored an ordinance to make Eighth of August an official city holiday in February,
said Emancipation Day's is essential to the community as the day freed enslaved people in the state of Tennessee, impacted the Civil War and changed the course of history for tens of millions of African-Americans.
The Emancipation Proclamation was announced on Jan. 1, 1863, but it didn't go into effect in Tennessee until August 8 when former Lt. Governor Andrew Johnson freed masses from slavery.