FROM 1905 TO 2010: WOW, WHO'D THUNK?

Emancipation Day: 1905
April 3, 1905. Richmond, Virginia. "Emancipation Day."

NEGROES' DAY CELEBRATED.
Inauguration of Colored President Part of the Ceremony.

Richmond, Va., April 3 -- Thousands of Negroes observed Emancipation Day in Virginia to-day. The occasion resulted in an outpouring of the race never before equaled, armed with miniature United States flags and attended by brass bands.

In addition, there was a unique feature to-night, the inauguration of a colored President. At True Reformers' Hall the interior of the White House was reproduced, and all the ceremonies incident to the induction of a Chief Magistrate into office were gone through with.

To-day was also the fortieth anniversary of the evacuation of Richmond by the Confederate forces and the partial destruction of the city by fire. (Washington Post, April 4, 1905.)