Emancipation Day to Bring Closures, Special Events

D.C. libraries, recreation centers and other District buildings will close Thursday for Emancipation Day.

Parking meters and most parking restrictions also will not be enforced, except along the H Street streetcar line and around Nationals Park.

Trash and recycling collection will be pushed to the following day, too.

Metro trains and buses will run on a normal weekday schedule.

The holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery in D.C., will include a fireworks display, parade and other events around the District.

On Capitol Hill, the Hill Center will celebrate the holiday with music and speakers honoring African Americans. More than a dozen poets and scholars will discuss black history and culture at the center from Thursday to Sunday as part of its Benjamin Drummond Emancipation Day Celebration. Drummond, a black Navy veteran, in 1866 was the first patient of the Civil War Naval Hospital, now the home of the Hill Center.

Photo via Facebook/Emancipation Day