City commemorating Florida Emancipation Day with special events

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - The City of Tallahassee is gearing up to commemorate Florida’s Emancipation Day on May 20.

According to Museum of Florida History, “On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people in the rebelling Southern states:

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free....”

The 20th of May – Emancipation in Florida project, presented by the Knott House Museum and John G. Riley House Museum, which is supported by the City, is hosting a number of events in commemoration of the day.

The schedule of events is as follows:

In-Person Commemoration at Old City Cemetery at 9:30 a.m.
Virtual 20th of May Emancipation in Florida Ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
In-Person Guided Tours of Concord School House and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church at Tallahassee Museum at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Virtual Tour from the Grove Museum at 2 p.m.
Virtual Town Hall at 6:30 p.m.