Americans generally think of slavery as having ended on January 1, 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln. But it took more than two years afterward for the entire country to learn slavery had ended.
News of the emancipation reached slavery's last stronghold in North America on June 19th, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas bearing a document called "General Order Number 3." That's when the slaves in Texas were freed. That day became known as Juneteenth, the day African Americans remember and celebrate as the end of slavery. It honors their ancestors who survived bondage.
Odell Winfield is Co-Director at the Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library in Poughkeepsie. "First it started off in Texas, you know, it was like a holiday. Then, as people started gathering, started celebrating it around the south, and as people moved north they would celebrate it. Now, Juneteenth, to a lot of black folks, was just like, a family reunion. Because during the dark days of segregation and the Jim Crow era, people couldn't gather to celebrate the end of slavery in the South. So they changed it to like family reunion. And after the Civil Rights movement, they turned it back into Juneteenth, you know June 19th, to celebrate the end of slavery."
With the day approaching, the cities of Albany and Kingston are holding events in commemoration. Winfield says Juneteenth is an important date in American history. "And it should be talked about. We're proud of our history and we wanna talk about our history. And Juneteenth is one day that we do. We celebrate it to let everybody know that nobody should be held in bondage."
Albany's Juneteenth celebration is scheduled to run from noon to 6 p.m. June 12th. Ricky Romero is The Albany Juneteenth Celebrations' public relations director. "This free event, open to the public, will be held at Albany's Washington Park parade grounds. Kicking off at noon will be the first annual cultural parade where local community groups will march in celebration within Washington Park."
Romero notes the parade acknowledges African American people past, present and future and will include youth groups, community members and churches. All are promised an afternoon of entertainment, community and family activities. "The event will also host world-class live performances, including Grammy prize winners Young Nobel Gentlemen, and to top it all off, we'll have a trolley tour with the Underground Railroad History Project."
In Kingston, Winfield invites everyone to a Juneteenth celebration later in the week: June 18th at 5 p.m. in the New Progressive Baptist Church, where SUNY New Paltz Professor of Black studies A.J. Williams-Meyers will address the gathering. "He has been telling our history in the Hudson Valley, the last 50 years I think."
Event: Kingston’s 4th Juneteenth Celebration, With Special Tributes to Professor A.J.Williams-Myers, distinguished historian and writer, and Minister Rita Worthington of New Progressive Baptist Church, a voice for justice for all.
Date: Saturday, June 18, 2016
Place: New Progressive Baptist Church, 8 Hone Street, Kingston, New York
Time: Starting Promptly at 5 PM
Keynote Speaker: Dr. A.J. Williams-Myers, distinguished historian and professor will speak on slavery, freedom and Juneteenth with a particular emphasis on the role of the new African Roots Library bearing his name in the community. Dr. Williams-Myers is a prominent Professor of Black Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He Holds a PhD in African History from UCLA and is the former director of the New York African American Institute. Dr. Williams-Myers is a former director of the NYS Freedom Trail Commission and Historian for the African Burial Ground Interpretive Center in New York Center. He is a well-published and highly regarded historian whose works include books, articles, essays and surveys.
Featuring: The Introduction of The Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Community Center located at 43 Gill Street, in Kingston.
Famed Civil Rights Photographer Jim Peppler, who was staff photographer and Photo Editor at the Southern Courier Newspaper from 1965 to 1968 documenting the civil rights movement and the social conditions in Alabama. He will be donating 25 of his prints from that era to the library. A collection of 11,000 of Jim Peppler’s photographs of the civil rights movement is held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. He went on to a 38-year career as a staff photographer at Newsday.
Performing: In honor of Kingston’s New Library, Amy Trompetter’s Redwing Blackbird Theater of Rosendale joined with visiting puppeteers Gregory Corbin of New York City, Maura Gahan of Vermont, and Gabrielle Harrell from North Carolina, will perform a short mask and puppet show. The visiting performers will be in the area to work with Amy Trompetter on “Fantasque” a dance and puppet collaboration opening at SummerScape at Bard.
New Progressive Baptist Church’s Praise Dancers will give a Juneteenth celebratory performance.
Evelyn Clarke, Ulster County Human Rights Commissioner and Minister at New Progressive Baptist Church, will MC
Free: Including a delicious southern style dinner
Sponsors: New Progressive Baptist Church, Kingston ENJAN (End the New Jim Crow Action Network), Woodstock Jewish Congregation’s End the New Jim Crow Task Force, LGBTQ Task Force to Undo Mass Incarceration and Institutional Racism, Citizen Action of Kingston
