April 3: Emancipation Day

By Pia Spinner, Education Research Assistant

On my knees when the light pass’d by

I thank God I’m free at last

Thought my soul would rise and fly

I thank God I’m free at last (“Free at Last” Negro Spiritual)

Today is a pretty significant day here in Virginia. Not only is it the 156th anniversary of the Fall of Richmond and the Evacuation Fire of 1865, but it’s also Emancipation Day for several localities in the Commonwealth, including our neighbors across the Rappahannock in Essex County. With Richmond being captured by Union forces, which was led by units of the United States Colored Troops, this event alongside the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier signified the end of slavery here in Virginia.

Caption: In 1905, African Americans in Richmond celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the end of slavery.

Source: “Emancipation Day Celebration in Richmond,” Remaking Virginia: Transformation Through Emancipation,.

“But Pia,” you might be asking yourself right now, “I thought Juneteenth was the emancipation holiday.” You are correct! Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865 was the day that news of the Emancipation reached Galveston, Texas. Did you know that in addition to Juneteenth, many places also commemorate the day either their state or locality received news of freedom? For example, in Washington DC, Emancipation Day was celebrated April 16 to coincide with Abraham Lincoln signing the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act (the law compensated former owners $300 for each freeperson). The law freed about 3100 enslaved people in DC. In my hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, April 9 was celebrated as Emancipation Day since that was the date of Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. April 3 was also celebrated in Richmond, Virginia as well. April 3 and April 9 were dates that also invited the potential for white violence as these days were devastating to former Confederates, but just like today, that did not stop us from coming together and having a good time as we pause fighting for our liberation to celebrate how far we have come.  

Emancipation Day events included parades, dinners, vendors, plays, speakers, dances, religious services, and of course, reading the Emancipation Proclamation out loud. Tappahannock, in Essex County, had one of the longest running Emancipation Day events, beginning in at least 1877 and continuing through the mid-1950s. For more information on Tappahannock’s Third of April festivities, I invite you to read this article written by Bessida Cauthorne White, President of the Middle Peninsula Afro-American Genealogy Society and a valued and trusted friend to Menokin. Happy Freedom Day and remember: none of us are free until all of us are free!

Caption: NOTICE! The Colored People of the City of Richmond would most respectfully inform the public, that they do not intend to celebrate the failure of the Southern Confederacy, as it has been stated in the papers of this City, but simply as the day on which God was pleased to Liberate their long-oppressed race. C. Harris, J. Cocks, J. Edmunds, F. J Smith, N. Williams, Committee. Richmond, VA, April 2nd 1866. 20,000 people turned out in Richmond to celebrate.

Source: C. Harris, J. Cocks, J. Edmunds, F.J. Smith, N. Williams, “Notice! The coloured people of the city of Richmond would most respectfully inform the public, that they do not intend to celebrate the failure of the Southern,” Remaking Virginia: Transformation Through Emancipation