SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to declare all slaves free. This would come more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
For decades, the Syracuse community has recognized Juneteenth with an annual festival.
“The overarching excitement about Juneteenth is not just the parade, and the festival, and the music and the festivities,” Rev. H. Bernard Alex said. “But it’s about the education and the celebration of freedom today.”
Alex has been a member of the Syracuse Juneteenth committee for three years. As the leader of a Black church, he said he has an obligation to be involved.
“If the Black church is not answering in real time,” Alex said. “The real life issues in its neighborhood and in its community, then I think we have missed the mark.”
Kenyata Calloway has also worked with the festival for several years. Since 2016, she has coordinated the Juneteenth pageant, which she said offers young Black women a voice.
“I am trying to implement it not as a beauty pageant,” Calloway said. “But a pageant to uplift young ladies and make sure they understand that they have a voice. Making sure that we keep, you know, the generations moving forward and giving them the knowledge of the past, making sure that they have a brighter future.”
For Calloway, June 19 is much more than an end to slavery.
“Being a brown and Black woman, making sure that I have the right to be whomever I want to be,” said Calloway. “So celebrating freedom as Juneteenth is a bigger celebration than just the last day of slavery, but it’s just freedom as a whole.”
After a two year hiatus due to the pandemic, Syracuse’s Juneteenth festival is finally back in person this year. This time however, the festivities will take place outside of City Hall, rather than the usual Clinton Square area.
It’s been only a year since Juneteenth became a federal holiday, but Syracuse Juneteenth president said it could not have come at a better time.
“I cannot explain how excited I am about Juneteenth being a national holiday,” Kevin Henry said. “That is truly our Independence Day.”
Henry attended his first Juneteenth festival in the city nearly thirty years ago. Since then, he knew he wanted to be a part of it in some way. This year he said he plans to have one of the biggest festivals the city has seen thus far.
“This Juneteenth festival is for everyone,” Henry said. “It’s for all cultures. We want everyone to come down and enjoy what we do, how we eat, how we dance. Look at us. And we want to showcase our show. We want to showcase our culture to the rest of the community.”
The celebration will kick off this Friday at City Hall plaza, followed by a parade on Saturday, June 18. The parade will begin at the historic Dunbar Center, one of the early settlement houses for African Americans in this country.
