Norton to March as Grand Marshal in Emancipation Day Parade, Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will be the grand marshal as she walks in the annual District of Columbia Emancipation Day Parade tomorrow, April 16, 2016, at 1:00 p.m., beginning at One Judiciary Square (441 4th St. NW). Emancipation Day commemorates April 16, 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln and the Congress freed 3,100 enslaved African Americans in the District with the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862.
Today, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) selected Norton’s tweet commemorating D.C. Emancipation Day as the “Digital Dems Early Bird,” which is a Member tweet each workday on a Democratic Caucus priority that Members are asked to retweet. In her tweet, Norton said, “As we celebrate #DCEmancipationDay tomorrow, we recommit to ending #TaxationWithoutRepresentation for over 1/2 a million DC residents.”
Yesterday, Norton spoke on the House floor about the meaning of D.C. Emancipation Day in 2016. Norton said D.C. Emancipation Day 2016 is about more than the slaves who were freed by President Lincoln 154 years ago. She said it was also about the current generation of D.C. residents securing their full and equal freedoms as American citizens through her statehood bill, pending in the House and Senate with a record number of original cosponsors.
“I love to march in parades, especially for good causes,” Norton said. “There is no better cause for D.C. residents than freeing themselves from Congress’ autocratic intrusion into their lives.”