Lincoln abolished slavery in Washington, DC, months before the Emancipation Proclamation. Here's the story behind the act.

Loretta Carter Hanes was researching at a library in her hometown of Washington, D.C., when she came across a piece of local history that surprised her.

She learned that in April 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, freeing some 3,100 enslaved people in the nation's capital months before the Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth or the 13th Amendment.

"She said, 'oh my gosh. I didn't know about this,'" Hanes' son, Peter, told USA TODAY about his late mother, who was an advocate for children's literacy and made the discovery in the course of her research to prepare for the D.C. Bicentennial Commemoration in 1991.

In Washington, Emancipation Day celebrations had not been widespread for decades. The Hanes family spearheaded their revival in the early 1990s and worked with historians and local and federal officials to have the anniversary of the act's signing be recognized as a city holiday.

The history of emancipation in the district highlights how the abolition of slavery in the United States was a process, experts say.

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"When most people think of slavery and emancipation, they think of emancipation as something that happened decisively, swiftly and immediately for Black people all at once," said Soyica Colbert, the Idol Family Professor of African American Studies and Performing Arts at Georgetown University. "And what both Emancipation Day and Juneteenth teach us is that emancipation happened over time."

Emancipation in the district as a 'test'

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862, signed by Lincoln on April 16, marked the end of slavery in the district, compensated former slave holders and offered payment to newly freed people to emigrate.

"This was the first act by the federal government to end slavery. And it was also unique because it was compensated," said Lopez Matthews, historian and digital production librarian at Howard University.

He called the act a "test" before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, which officially declared slaves in Confederate states free.

While there were symbolic implications of freeing enslaved people in the capital of the Union, the move was also born out of the district's unique legal status.

"Lincoln could implement changes in D.C. that he did not even have to negotiate at the state level," Colbert explained.

According to the National Archives, slave owners who were loyal to the Union could receive up to $300 for each person who was freed and formerly enslaved people could receive up to $100 if they chose to leave the country.

The federal government spent close to $1 million on compensation, according to the district government.

Despite the $100 offer, there was not a widespread push among newly freed Black residents in the district to emigrate, Matthews and Colbert said.

"Many African Americans felt like they built this country, they were enslaved in this country. So, they weren't just going to be, 'OK, now you're done with us. Now, we have to go,'" Matthews said. "They also feared that being an opening to forced migration. They didn't want to set a precedent."

Although they were freed, Black residents still had no rights, and some left the district to find work elsewhere or reunite with family members, Matthews said. However, movement was limited because Maryland and Virginia still allowed slavery.

Some freed Black men went on to fight for the Union Army after they were allowed to join several months later, Matthews added.

But news of the Emancipation Proclamation didn't spread immediately, and Juneteenth is a holiday that marks the day that Union troops reached Galveston, Texas, in 1865 and finally announced that enslaved people there were free. The 13th Amendment, ratified later that year, officially abolished slavery in the United States.

A Black newspaper called the Anglo-African noted the significance of the district's Emancipation Day in a larger context:

"It was a fitting celebration of the anniversary of Fort Sumter, that Congress should pass a bill to emancipate the capital from the thrall of slavery forever. Henceforth, whatever betide the national, its physical heart is freed from the presence of slavery," the editorial read, according to the district government.

How emancipation is celebrated

In 1866, a year after the Civil War ended, a large parade held in the district celebrated and marked the anniversary of Emancipation Day. An article and image in Harper's Weekly, a prominent publication during the Civil War, depicted the large gathering and with thousands of Black residents in the crowd.

In 1883, on the 21st anniversary of D.C. Emancipation Day, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a speech in which he reflected on the inequality Black people around the country still faced after emancipation but also noted the hope he had for progress in the future.

He commented on the significance of the district's Emancipation Act on the Civil War:

Celebrations continued until the early 1900s, Hanes said. Around that time, class divisions in the city led to separate parades and the celebrations soon ceased. Around the country, a focus on remembering slavery began to wane in place of the movement for equal rights, Matthews said.

Hanes said the educational potential his mother saw in the revival of Emancipation Day celebrations sparked her passion to advocate for its cause.

Hanes helped his mother, along with local historians C.R. Gibbs and Vincent deForest, to produce the programing. In 2005, April 16 became a legal holiday in the district and today, the district hosts an array of events in April celebrating the history and connecting it to present issues, including D.C. statehood.

The question of statehood "resonates with Emancipation Day, not so much in the history of how it came to be, but in its implications," Colbert said, in how it relates to representation in U.S. democracy. Washington has a member of Congress to represent the district, Eleanor Holmes Norton, but she cannot vote. The city has no senators.

The Hanes' work wasn't without challenge, though.

In the early 90s, Hanes said people questioned his mother about bringing up the history of slavery.

Her response: "The truth is cathartic," he said. "This is about slavery but also freedom from slavery."

Years later the same people came back to his mother, Hanes said, and told her "I understand why you're doing this."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Before Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln ended slavery in Washington