Emancipation Day
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[edit] Bahamas
Emancipation Day is a national holiday in the Bahamas commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire on August 1, 1834.
Emancipation Day is more commonly referred to in the Bahamas as August Monday as it is celebrated on the first Monday in August.
Bahamians look for any excuse to stage a Junkanoo festival [citation needed] and Emancipation Day is the best excuse of all[citation needed]. The celebrations are mainly concentrated in Fox Hill village, Nassau - a former slave village whose inhabitants, according to folklore, heard about their freedom a week after everyone else on the island. Perhaps that explains their enthusiastic and extravagant festivities.
The event kicks off with a road race, which is followed on the second day with a song festival incorporating all the choirs in Fox Hill. The next day sees the famous Bahamian Junkanoo festival. Participants clad in paper costumes compete against each other in groups of 200 to 400 to pulsating music (Junkanoo - a traditional African festival of drums and cowbells unique to the island).
No Bahamian celebration would be complete without food, and the Emancipation festival luncheon is one of the biggest events during the four days of revelry. The other big event is the culture show, which features rake n scrape bands, limbo dancing, folk tales, greasy pole, plaiting the may-pole and folk-dancing competitions.
Emancipation festivities culminate on Fox Hill Day, the day that the community recognises the freedom granted to their ancestors in 1834, making this the oldest event in the Bahamas.
[edit] Turks and Caicos Islands
Emancipation Day is a national holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands similar to the Bahamas. (The Turks and Caicos Islands are located next to the Bahamas and share a similar culture and history.) It is celebrated on August 7.
[edit] Caribbean
Emancipation Day is widely celebrated throughout the English-speaking Caribbean or British West Indies on the first Monday in August.
In many Caribbean countries, carnivals take place during the first week of August, which includes Emancipation Day.
[edit] Trinidad and Tobago
Emancipation Day is a national holiday in Trinidad and Tobago which celebrates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire on August 1, 1834. In 1985 Emancipation Day replaced Discovery Day among the holidays of Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago was the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery.
[edit] United Kingdom
Emancipation Day was also a celebration by motor car owners in Great Britain upon the repeal of the Red Flag Act, which required all motor vehicle owners to have a man walk in front of their vehicles carrying a warning in form of a red flag.
[edit] United States
The municipality of Washington, D.C. celebrates April 16 as Emancipation Day. On that day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. The Act freed about 3,100 enslaved persons in the District of Columbia nine months before President Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation telegraphing the eventual end of slavery to the rest of the nation. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act represents the only example of compensation by the federal government to free enslaved persons.
On January 4, 2005, Mayor Anthony Williams signed legislation making Emancipation Day an official public holiday in the District. Each year, a series of activities will be held during the public holiday including the traditional Emancipation Day parade celebrating the freedom of enslaved persons in the District of Columbia. The Emancipation Day celebration was held yearly from 1866 to 1901, and was resumed under the leadership of Councilmember Vincent Orange as a tradition and historic celebration in 2002.
Emanicpation Day is also celebrated in Texas, where it is commonly known as Juneteenth.
[edit] See also
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