Local Emancipation Day events planned for May 20, 1-5 p.m.

Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Community Friends of Jefferson County invite everyone to the annual 20th of May (Emancipation Day) Celebration, 1-5 p.m. at the Old Howard Academy, located at 835 Mamie Scott Rd. The fair-style event will feature vendors, live music, entertainment, guest speakers, kids activities, free food for kids and more – all designed to uplift, educate and highlight the rich diversity of the community.

Guest speakers will be Lanetra Bennett of WCTV News, local student Quanijah Shiver and Community Friends President Franklin Brooks. Students from Jefferson County K-12 School will be performing, and the school's JROTC be the Color Guard. Apostolic Outreach Ministry also will perform several selections.

A total 20 community vendors have reserved space, including the Big Bend Cares Mobile Unit, which will be providing education resources and free testing.

Emancipation Day is celebrated across the United States to recognize and remember Abraham Lincoln signing the Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862. At the beginning of 1860, there were about four million slaves in the United States. The Compensated Emancipation Act – which freed approximately 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia – didn’t, however, resolve the larger issue of slavery in the United States. It wasn't until the end of the Civil War in 1865 that the Thirteenth Amendment was proposed to end slavery in the United States. It was ratified by 30 of the 36 states that year.

In 2005, Emancipation Day was made a public holiday in the District of Columbia. While it is celebrated all over the U.S., it is not celebrated everywhere on April 16. In Florida, it’s celebrated on May 20, in recognition of May 20, 1865, when Union Brigadier General Edward McCook held a ceremony announcing President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, formally freeing slaves in Florida. In Texas, it’s celebrated on June 19, and in Puerto Rico it’s celebrated on March 22.

Emancipation Day is also celebrated on different days in many Caribbean countries. These include Anguilla, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands. However, since many of these Caribbean countries were British possessions, they celebrate their Emancipation Day on Aug. 1 because that is when slavery was abolished in the U.K. In 1834.

For more information about Jefferson County's 20^th of May Celebration, contact Essie Norton at 850-508-3699 or Franklin Brooks at 850-509-7506.

Share this:

Related