This Week In Black History April 16-22, 2025

Edward “Duke” Ellington
 
APRIL 16
1862—President Abraham Lin­coln signs a bill ending slavery in Washington, D.C. Approximately nine months later he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation which had a highly emotional and symbolic impact but actually freed very few slaves when it was first pronounced. The Proclamation tar­geted slaves in the South. But at the time, Lincoln had virtually no con­trol over the rebellious slave-own­ing Southern states.1929&m