On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a nationally recognized holiday.
Black communities in Central Pennsylvania are celebrating that day in 1865 when a quarter million Black slaves in Galveston, Texas finally heard they were free. It was two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted.
In Johnstown, leaders have made a weeklong celebration of Juneteenth with several events.
Last Saturday at the Peoples Natural Gas Park, the Johnstown branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People & other organizers put on a 10-hour-long celebration, filled with food and music for close to 300 community members.
“It was an excellent day in the city of Johnstown,” said Deacon Jeffrey Wilson, Program Director for the Flood City Youth Fitness Academy.
Wilson is one of the four organizers of the annual event. He even performed at the concert with his group, The Smooth Sound Band.
“It was a way that people of all ethnic groups, all colors, all races were able to come into the park, in the hundreds, and be able to really unite,” Wilson said, “You felt that, you really thoroughly felt that in the park on Saturday.”
Oscar Z. Cashaw, Sr., Executive Director of Flood City Youth Fitness Academy, helped organize the events this past week.
“Some of the people that I know was there to 10 o'clock when we were closing up,” Cashaw said, “They were still around wanting to hear more.”
And hear more, they did.
In addition to musical performances, there was a poetry and rap contest and various talks.
“We always had a presence of a minority group of us as Afro-Americans, here in our community,” Cashaw said, “But, we never really had a true celebration type factor in the city, that being recognized by the city and also for other ethnic groups to partake in.”
Wilson also hopes that more black people, like himself, learn about their history.
“We as African Americans need to understand and latch onto it better and use it as a way that we can go forward. The more knowledge that you know now, the better that you can make things for the future,” Wilson said.
Wilson shared that the theme of education was a driving force in making free COVID-19 vaccinations a part of the celebrations. Organizers arranged for Highland Health to be there to administer shots during some of the Juneteenth events.
“We wanted to make sure that we'd be a key part of that education about what the true facts are, and be able to offer this,” Wilson said.
Education was also at the center for the State College NAACP, in planning their second Juneteenth Commemoration.The theme is “Remembering our Freedom, Empowering our Future.”
Branch President Lorraine Jones feels that Juneteenth is important for the whole community.
“It’s very empowering to know that we have an opportunity to really just celebrate being able to have our freedom,” Jones said.
According to Jones, the event on Saturday will feature live musical performances, as well as spoken word and dances from the youth of the community.
“We really hope that the community will walk away being well informed and be encouraged about the prospects of our future,” Jones said.
The festivities will be followed by a documentary screening and discussion with the producers of “District Greenwood: The Amalgamated People” at 3 Dots Downtown in State College.
The film looks at ‘Black Wall Street’ in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and its ultimate destruction during the 1921 race massacre.
