Out of the numerous distinguished black clergymen in Washington, D.C., Sheafe was selected to address role of religion in emancipation at the Washington, D.C. celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, held on January 1, 1903. In its brief rundown of the scheduled speakers, the Washington Post identified Sheafe as "the well-known evangelist," even though he had been in the city for only six months.
The Washington Evening Times report of the event is supplemented here with an excerpt from that of the Washington Evening Star, which gives a bit more of the substance of the speakers' remarks. Since the reproduction below may be difficult to read, here is the Star's summary of Sheafe's remarks: "Rev. Lewis C. Sheafe traced 'God's guiding hand' in the conditions immediately antecedent to the civil war, and during its progress, when even a disposition to interefere with slavery was not in the plans and purposes of President Lincoln. Military necessity caused him, the speaker said, to fall in with the master purposes of the Almighty."
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Washington Evening Times, Jan. 2, 1903, p. 12
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Washington Post, Jan. 1, 1903, p.3
 Washington Evening Star, Jan. 2, 1903, p. 6
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