Norton Launches Floor Series on D.C. Statehood Leading Up to D.C. Emancipation Day
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak on the House floor whenever she can secure floor time this week for a series of speeches calling for statehood for the District of Columbia in anticipation of D.C. Emancipation Day on Saturday, April 16, 2016. D.C. Emancipation Day commemorates April 16, 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln freed 3,100 enslaved African Americans in the District.
“The slaves in the District of Columbia led the way to freedom, securing their own freedom nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery nationwide,” Norton said. “Yet, tragically, today’s D.C. residents are the last to be free. On Emancipation Day we look to the unfinished business of freedom here in the nation’s capital. Freedom will not come to Americans who live in the District of Columbia until Congress can no longer intrude into our local affairs and we have voting representation in the House and Senate. Statehood brought full freedom to the 50 states. D.C. must be the 51st state.”