Norfolk may have hosted the first Emancipation Day Parade in the United States back in 1863

Norfolk may have hosted the first Emancipation Day Parade in the United States back in 1863

As many as 4,000 people gathered in Norfolk, Virginia, on January 1, 1863, for what historians believe was the first Emancipation Day parade in the United States.Much of what is known about the parade's history comes from The New Journal and Guide, a historic Hampton Roads Black newspaper founded in 1900 that is still in publication.In 1926, a local citizen shared an original record of the 1863 celebration with the paper. An 1863 article from Th…