The fourth annual Juneteenth parade is set for Saturday, June 20 in downtown Elizabethtown.
The parade is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. with line-up beginning at 9 a.m. The parade’s theme is “Freedom: Yesterday’s Legacy, Today’s Promise, Tomorrow’s Hope.”
The parade will be among the highlights of a four-day celebration that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans on June 19, 1865.
Activities will begin Thursday, June 18 at 361 Lewis Drive in Elizabethtown and conclude with a talent show on Sunday, June 21.
The Juneteenth Parade Committee invites queens, kings, schools, colleges, community members, politicians, businesses, organizations and others to participate in the parade.
For information about the parade, contact Arthur Bullock at 910-876-7905 or [email protected].
The events at the Lewis Drive site will include live entertainment, guest speakers, food vendors, community engagement and cultural presentations. For information, contact Rev. Fletcher Collins at 910-872-3451.
A Juneteenth Community Day is planned at Jones Lake State Park on Friday, June 19 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors will help paint a mural that will hang on the wall of the visitor’s center. For information, contact Monique McKoy at 910-588-4550 and [email protected].
The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared that all enslaved people in Confederate states still in rebellion against the Union “are, and henceforward, shall be free.”
However, the Proclamation wasn’t enforceable in Confederate areas until June 19, 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the freedom of the last enslaved African Americans.
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