Monday, June 23, 2008
JUNETEENTH
In June 1865, more than two years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the enslaved Americans of African descent in Texas learned that they were free people. The celebration of this good news brought to them by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865 became the beginning of a holiday known as JUNETEENTH.
For years in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this holiday was celebrated by the black community through Strawberry, Summer and Church festivals and picnics, almost all of which included a procession to Thaddeus Stevens' grave at the Shriener Concord Cemetery. This year the tradition was revived by a coalition of groups in Lancaster, coordinated by the Crispus Attucks Community Center. One of those attending, City Councilman Nelson Polite, was in the unique position of having attended pilgrimages as a child in the early part of the 20th century.
On Saturday, June 21st, Councilman Polite joined others in the community as they gathered at Stevens’ grave at the corner of West Chestnut and North Mulberry streets. Frederick Douglass and Lydia Hamilton Smith, courtesy of Pennsylvania’s Past Players re-enactors, were also present and they spoke of Stevens’ great contribution to the lives of all Americans through what we now call the Civil Rights Amendments to the Constitution; the right to vote (15th), equal protection under the law (14th) and most especially the end of slavery (13th).
The group of thirty or more then proceeded to Stevens’ home near the corner of South Queen and East Vine Streets to learn about the construction and program plans for the Stevens and Smith Historic Site. Although little work has yet been completed on the historic buildings, more than $2 million has been expended to build the underground exhibit area below the Convention Center and to protect one relic of the Underground Railroad, the cistern.
The procession finally arrived at the Crispus Attucks Community Center and joined with the many that were waiting there for an afternoon of food, music and enlightenment. Reverend Roland Forbes and Bright Side Baptist Church’s Men’s Choir shared the messages of old Negro Spirituals and Professor Leroy Hopkins explained the history of Juneteenth.
There were, however, quiet moments in the celebration as people thought about the times that required a man of Thaddeus Stevens’ integrity and what these modern times require of each of us.
For years in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this holiday was celebrated by the black community through Strawberry, Summer and Church festivals and picnics, almost all of which included a procession to Thaddeus Stevens' grave at the Shriener Concord Cemetery. This year the tradition was revived by a coalition of groups in Lancaster, coordinated by the Crispus Attucks Community Center. One of those attending, City Councilman Nelson Polite, was in the unique position of having attended pilgrimages as a child in the early part of the 20th century.
On Saturday, June 21st, Councilman Polite joined others in the community as they gathered at Stevens’ grave at the corner of West Chestnut and North Mulberry streets. Frederick Douglass and Lydia Hamilton Smith, courtesy of Pennsylvania’s Past Players re-enactors, were also present and they spoke of Stevens’ great contribution to the lives of all Americans through what we now call the Civil Rights Amendments to the Constitution; the right to vote (15th), equal protection under the law (14th) and most especially the end of slavery (13th).
The group of thirty or more then proceeded to Stevens’ home near the corner of South Queen and East Vine Streets to learn about the construction and program plans for the Stevens and Smith Historic Site. Although little work has yet been completed on the historic buildings, more than $2 million has been expended to build the underground exhibit area below the Convention Center and to protect one relic of the Underground Railroad, the cistern.
The procession finally arrived at the Crispus Attucks Community Center and joined with the many that were waiting there for an afternoon of food, music and enlightenment. Reverend Roland Forbes and Bright Side Baptist Church’s Men’s Choir shared the messages of old Negro Spirituals and Professor Leroy Hopkins explained the history of Juneteenth.
There were, however, quiet moments in the celebration as people thought about the times that required a man of Thaddeus Stevens’ integrity and what these modern times require of each of us.
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