Saturday marks D.C. Emancipation Day, the 154th anniversary of when President Abraham Lincoln, in 1862, released more than 3,000 slaves in the District. Planned festivities for the day will result in several traffic closures, per the Metropolitan Police Department and the District Department of Transportation:

“Truck Touch & Rock Vote Festival/Concert/Fireworks Display – The following streets will be closed from approximately 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.:

• E Street NW, from 14^th Street to 13^th Street NW
• Pennsylvania Avenue NW, from 14^th Street to 12^th Street NW
• 13^th Street NW, from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Parade Set-Up – The following streets will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.:

• Indiana Avenue NW, from Seventh Street to Third Street NW
• Sixth Street NW,  from D Street to C Street NW

Parade – The following streets will be closed from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Parade hours 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

• Pennsylvania Avenue NW,  from 14^th Street to Fourth Street NW
• All streets crossing Pennsylvania Avenue from 14^th Street to Fourth Street will be closed between E Street and Constitution Avenue NW”

The parade will begin at One Judiciary Square, located at 441 Fourth St. NW. Leading up to this weekend’s celebrations are a mayoral press conference about it on Wednesday morning, a march for D.C. equality on Friday, and what may amount to a “series of speeches” on Capitol Hill by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

“On Emancipation Day we look to the unfinished business of freedom here in the nation’s capital,” Norton said in a release on Tuesday announcing her intent to speak about D.C. statehood this week “whenever she can secure [congressional] floor time.” “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 51^st state.”

Photo by Darrow Montgomery